In 2013, the use of DRS in qualifying and free practice will be limited to the sames zones employed for the race, meaning the teams will have to rely on it much less in the battle for pole. However, that change is offset to some extent by the designation of two zones at almost every circuit – only Monaco and Suzuka escape with the solitary activation point.

Mercedes GP Petronas have kindly released an assessment of overtaking this year. The advantage Mercedes have over us mere mortals armed with a lap sheet is that they can tie it in with all the other data they have – notably track position and tyre strategies. The result is that they can gather a bigger picture of what is happening…

The FIA have announced the location of the zones for the Drag Reduction System in this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix. That’s right, I said zones – if you haven’t heard, there will be two zones for the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve…

What’s worse than a DRS zone? The answer is, as far as I’m concerned, two DRS zones… and they’ll be coming to a Canadian Grand Prix near you soon. FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting has confirmed that there will now be two Drag Reduction System zones at each race if the circuit layout is suitable. The proviso is that two straights have to follow on from each other as the system is constrained to only being able to have one activation point. For that reason, it’s not been adopted for …

As I discussed last month, the teams have been exploiting additional fuel load in order to generate increased downforce from the diffuser – the trick being to keep the throttle open under braking in order to keep the diffuser powered-up with exhaust gases. Renault Sport revealed that “the Renault-equipped teams were able to burn 10% more fuel than normal during the Australian Grand Prix without running out of fuel, therefore giving more exhaust flow to its partners using the blown diffuser”. Of course, the use of extra fuel purely for …

“Let me count the ways.” I love thee for, err… well, the short answer is that I’m not really a fan of the Drag Reduction System that’s part of the technical arsenal available to F1 teams’ this year.

Of course part of the enjoyment of Formula One is seeing your favourite drivers’ battle towards the front and hopefully towards that elusive win, but for me, overtaking isn’t the be-all and end-all of the sport. I get my thrills not just from seeing “my guys” do well but in pondering the what-if’s …