DRS

Drag Reduction System. The flap could only be opened inside marked activation zones, and only if the gap at that zone's detection point was under one second — so it was an aid handed to the chasing car, not a free speed boost. It closed the moment the driver braked, was disabled for the first two laps of a race and after any restart, and race control switched it off entirely in wet conditions.

The 2026 regulations replaced it. Moveable aerodynamics are now part of the car rather than a single rear-wing flap, under a different set of names and rules — so DRS is a term you will still hear from commentators and read in any race report written before 2026, but not one that describes the current cars.