Source:REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
[Saba Sports News] With the conclusion of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Formula 1 officially bids farewell to the DRS (Drag Reduction System), which has been in use for 14 years. The last person to press the DRS button in history was Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Since its introduction in 2011, DRS has been a topic of controversy. With the push of a button, the rear wing opens, dramatically reducing drag and increasing speed by 10-12 kilometers per hour, making the races more thrilling, but it has also been criticized by some as a low-skill overtaking mechanism.The first driver to activate DRS was Jenson Button, who jokingly expressed a wish to be the last one to press it, creating a bookend for the technology. Unfortunately, that wish was not fulfilled. In the final lap of the Abu Dhabi race, Antonelli activated the rear wing while chasing Yuki Tsunoda, becoming the final user of DRS. Regrettably, despite the system’s assistance, he fell short of completing the overtaking maneuver by 0.6 seconds, leaving DRS’s farewell somewhat anticlimactic.With the arrival of the new regulations in 2026, F1 will enter an era without DRS, replaced instead by a new system called “Artificial Overtaking Mode.” Unlike DRS, which opens the rear wing to reduce drag, this mode will enhance speed through the use of additional electrical power to facilitate overtaking.