Pass and retake in Brazil?

Drivers are split on whether this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix will feature more overtaking that usual.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix featured the unusual phenomenon of drivers overtaking and then immediately losing the place on the next straight. The explanations at the time concerned the racing line, DRS and corner exit speeds, and it’s been suggested that a similar state of affairs may exist at Interlagos with the natural overtaking zone of the start-finish straight being followed by the DRS zone between turns three and four.

"I think you can,” confirmed Felipe Massa, Interlagos local and double-winner of the Brazilian Grand Prix, in the official FIA press conference. “If you have overtaken the car on the main straight, which is the better place for overtaking, without using DRS, it is possible you can be overtaken again at the next one, because in the next one you’re going to have the DRS. For sure, maybe it could be the same as what happened in the last race.”

Michael Schumacher, himself four times a winner here, offered a different opinion. “I think that if you are able to pass on the main straight, you would definitely be the quicker car, because you do it without DRS and then the chicane itself should be enough to clear yourself so that the guy behind shouldn’t have sufficient power, even with DRS, to then re-pass you, so you probably only pass at equal speed on the back straight, because of the DRS, but it shouldn’t be similar to what we saw in Abu Dhabi.“

Several drivers expressed surprise that the DRS zone is not located on the main straight. However the run to the first corner at Interlagos has historically provided good overtaking opportunities, and as race director Charlie Whiting explains at the start of the season. “Generally speaking we are not going to use it in a place where overtaking can be done normally.”