DRS, active aerodynamics and the overtake mode

Published Invalid Date · figures as of the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix, round 17.

Overtaking in a modern car is hard because the car in front disturbs the air that the car behind needs for grip. Since 2011 the rules have given the chasing car a mechanical advantage on the straights. The device changed in 2026.

DRS, 2011 to 2025

The drag reduction system opened a flap in the rear wing, cutting drag and adding about 10 to 15 km/h at the end of a straight. It could be used only in marked zones, usually one to three per lap, and only by a car within one second of the car ahead at a detection point before the zone. In the first two laps after a start or a restart, and in rain, it was not allowed. In practice and qualifying it could be used freely in the zones.

2026: active aerodynamics and the override

With the 2026 cars DRS was removed. Instead both the front and rear wings move: a low-drag setting for the straights, available to every car on the designated straights, and a high-downforce setting for the corners. The chasing car’s advantage comes from the power unit rather than the wing: a car within about a second of the car ahead can use extra electrical power for a short burst, called the manual override mode. The 2026 power units deliver roughly half their power electrically, which is what makes that burst meaningful. The rules timeline on this site records both changes with their source.

Where overtaking happens

From this site’s results since 2010, the average number of places a classified driver gained or lost between grid and finish, per race:

Circuit	Places changed per driver	Races
Sepang International Circuit	3.9	9
Hockenheimring	3.6	6
Baku City Circuit	3.5	10
Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos	3.4	15
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	3.4	17
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya	2.8	17
Suzuka Circuit	2.7	15
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	2.7	10
Jeddah Corniche Circuit	2.7	5

The measure counts position changes from any cause, retirements and pit strategy included, so it shows how much a race shuffles the order rather than overtakes alone. Long straights after slow corners (Baku, Spa, Sepang) sit at the top; circuits where the lap is a series of fast corners (Suzuka, Barcelona) at the bottom.

The same point shows in the pole-to-win figures: at Monza, with its long straights, the first grid place has won 33% of races; at Marina Bay, with none, 71%.

Reading an overtake on this site

Each race page’s lap chart shows every driver’s position after every lap, so a place gained on track appears as two lines crossing between pit stops, while a place gained through strategy appears at a stop. The race-history chart below it shows the gap to the leader lap by lap, which is where a closing car becomes visible before the move.