Drag Reduction System - a driver activated system (switched on and off by the driver). It was introduced to bring in more over taking during races. It's a relatively simple system - the driver presses a button which separates the rear wing of the vehicle.

Doing so leaves an area for air to pass through that wasn't there before - thereby reducing the drag / downforce. This increases the vehicle's speed.

Simple in theory but applying it gets complicated - at least the FIA have complicated it: The idea is that the vehicle wanting to overtake (vehicle a) drives up behind the vehicle ahead (vehicle b), when on a straight the driver of vehicle a presses the button and the increase in speed allows him to pass vehicle b. I write him as there are currently only male drivers in Formula One.

In a race the driver can only activate the system if he is within one second of the vehicle ahead - in each race one of the straights at the track is nominated beforehand for the use of the DRS, it cannot be used anywhere else. The DRS is automatically deactivated when the driver presses his brake.

Before the race, i.e. during practice and qualifying, the DRS can be used at any time and at any place on the track.

At the Australian Grand Prix in Albert Park on 27th March the Drag Reduction System was used during a race for the first time. It definitely was not as effective as hoped. In the entire race it assisted in passing on just 3 occasions.

There were a few occasions during the race that rather depressed the viewers hoping for more wheel-to-wheel action - the car trying to overtake the car ahead activated the DRS system but was still not able to pass.

Not exactly groundbreaking or breathtaking stuff. The hope is that as teams and drivers get used to DRS they will start using it better and the stewards will choose better places on track to make it available. The worry is that try as they may, the F1 decision makers might just never get it right.

The view of this blog writer is that the both the problem and the solution lie in the design of the grand prix tracks. The cost of re-designing and making changes to the tracks will unfortunately be too great an expense to actually make that a reality. Read that as: the people profiting the most of from Formula One will not be willing to make less profit to advance the sport. At least, I would be very surprised if they did.