Extreme tire degradation coupled with late scrapping of Fernando Alonso with Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton injected excitement into the season opener in Bahrain. Max Verstappen recovered from 15th to second before red-flag chaos in Australia, doing something similar for Saudi Arabia. Aside from these events, the action on the track leaves a lot to be desired. When the Baku sprint or the grand prix don’t have such a smokescreen, they’re generally accused of being boring.

The lack of drama wasn’t lost on the paddock either. Mercedes driver George Russell believes 2023 has become “less exciting”, and singled out the race in Azerbaijan as “as dull as we all expected”. Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly thinks the criticism is premature and there could be plenty of action soon. He likened it to watching a movie, saying: “If you go to the cinema, after 15 minutes the movie sucks, but the last hour and a half is great.”

Still, there is enough sample size after four full rounds to demonstrate that the spectacle of reduction was not purely accidental. Rather, it was the result of a combination of factors – with the F1-led roster achieving its goal of resetting the rulebook and making the Champions League more competitive.

A landmark shift in technical regulations for 2022 will focus on ground effect, with the aim of breaking the established order and allowing cars to follow each other more closely without excessive tire shredding and downforce expulsion of dirty air. The consensus among the drivers throughout last season was that even if Red Bull ultimately proved dominant and there were no shock winners, the latter had already been achieved.

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Twelve months on, the team’s technical departments naturally reached a consensus around the best design solution and a window to correct the aerodynamic error. This creates a competitive midfield.

In Bahrain Q1, the gap between the top 17 cars was less than 0.9 seconds. In Australia, a time of 1.6 seconds was the fastest lap ever recorded by the top 16 cars. The downside of this head-to-head battle between cars with different handling characteristics is that, arguably, the field is too close for its own good. Because the overall performance is so even, drivers don’t have enough increments to pass the car in front. This created a stalemate in the game.

Russell said: “F1 has these rules in place to help with overtaking and following and since they were introduced every team has naturally strayed from their original intentions in some way. It’s very different from what they used to be.”

Russell’s sprint with Verstappen was one of the few memorable track matches in Baku

Photography: Simon Galloway/ motorsport pictures

In Baku, the situation was exacerbated by the shortening of the DRS zone on the main straight by 100 metres. While the FIA ​​made changes on a fair basis in 2022 where the overtaking assist proved too powerful, those changes appear to have backfired as the field converged. In addition to the aggressive Red Bulls, places into Turn 1 were in short supply.

Plus: How Baku’s sprint format change exposed F1’s biggest mistakes

The grid used driver briefings to express their concerns, but the governing body went ahead anyway and reduced Miami’s two DRS zones, which doesn’t bode well for a track that didn’t host a race last season.

Gasly noted: “Reducing the DRS zone is not going to help us see more overtaking during the season. It’s something we talked about in the driver briefing last week and I’m sure we’ll talk about it this weekend. I think we’re in favor of Keeping last year’s DRS zones, obviously won’t reduce them.”

Russell dismissed the narrow vision, saying: “I don’t think any of us really understand why they were cut short. It goes without saying.

“DRS helps with overtaking and it’s always exciting when you have these huge DRS advantages, it gives you a chance to fight. Obviously in Baku it was too short.”

Max Verstappen felt that reaching the minimum dry weight limit of 798kg also compromised the ease of overtaking. Large chunks now mean it’s a “one size fits all” situation. “These cars can be too heavy, too stiff, so you can’t really run to the side of the road and try to find a different line,” he said. It’s driving on the same line. As people find more and more downforce in the car, it can become harder to keep up as well.”

While there have been concerns that the new regulations might be too prescriptive – simply because Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes’ differing views on sidepod design help alleviate those issues – teams will naturally be looking to exploit every inch of slack in 2023. This has lured them away from the intent of the rule makers, introducing evolved aerodynamic configurations, which again make it harder for drivers to follow closely and prepare for overtaking.

Are the current teams getting too close in their design philosophy to produce a great car?

Photography: Zak Mauger / motorsport pictures

This adds to the problem of reduced slipstream efficiency last year. With more emphasis now placed on aerodynamics under the floor than on the top surface, drivers throughout 2022 report that the car in front no longer punches such a large hole in the air. This makes it harder for them to hold onto the car trailer ahead. With this feeling still present, drivers are less able to catch up to their opponents on the straights, now have less room to deploy DRS and ultimately find it harder to negotiate corners.

The last factor that comes into play is the tires. Pirelli entered F1 in 2011 with a design brief to create capricious rubber with extreme degradation to facilitate different strategies that would enhance on-track performance. But discontent among drivers and the championship’s desire to change tack amid spectators’ dismay at emphasizing protection has prompted manufacturers to develop increasingly durable rubber. F1 has since got its wish.

All in all, leaving aside the unusually abrasive asphalt in Bahrain, there has been no appreciable level of degradation so far in a campaign of increased danger. This reduces the number of pit stops and the number of drivers blowing tires trying to get close to their opponents.

Again, hurting Baku, the early safety car gave most teams a window to complete their one-stop runs. Since then, the two sides have reached a stalemate. Alpine, meanwhile, kept Esteban Ocon on the track on his starting hard tyre, only to be released prematurely into the pit lane when he jumped in for a mandatory change on the final lap Police and photographers are welcome. The 186-mile effort before the pit stop marked the longest pit stop time managed by the C3 compound since 2015.

Ocon reckons: “We’ve done three races so far without any degradation, which makes overtaking more difficult. In Bahrain we’ve seen a lot more overtaking than in the past three, no overtaking in Australia, none in Jeddah Overtaking, no overtaking in Baku. Once there is more degradation, there will be more fighting and more fun on the track.”

Russell added: “In the past couple of races, it’s been easy to stop. It’s less exciting when everyone is giving it their all… We’ll be discussing this with the FIA ​​and F1, Because we want to be able to race, we want to be able to fight, like we do in racing – karting, there’s no aerodynamics there. So that’s the ultimate dream.

“The sport did take a turn for the better when these new cars were introduced, but we need to go a step further now.”

Can F1 turn things around in Miami after dull Baku?

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures