Felipe Massa doesn't believe the Australian Grand Prix will set the tone for the remainder of the season in terms of overtaking – or rather a lack of.
Barring the opening lap, there were only a handful of on-track overtakes, with many drivers predicting a passing drought thanks to the new rules which now mean the cars are wider and quicker in the corners, making overtaking opportunities rarer.
Williams driver Massa, whilst acknowledging it is harder to pass this year, believes it will be circuit specific, and says the Albert Park circuit has never been an easy track to overtake on as it's quite narrow, but modern tracks like the two upcoming races in China and Bahrain should result in more action.
"It's a lot harder to get past now," Masss told Brazil's Sportv. "But that was clear as soon as they changed the rules.
"But it depends on the track. Australia is always a difficult circuit to pass on, so it will not always be like that [during the season]."
Massa says it's nothing new and fans have only become acustommed to 50 overtakes a race because of the introduction of DRS in 2011.
"It was always like this, until they invented the DRS," added Massa. "In the old days, the position you started was more or less where you finished if you didn't make a mistake or have a problem.
"So it will not be the same as it was in the past, because of DRS. But if we didn't have DRS, nobody would pass anyone."
The FIA is due to reassess the impact of DRS on races, starting in China and Bahrain, and could opt to increase its effectiveness by extending the 'activation' zones.
Discussion about this post