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DRS has helped racing 'big time' - Schumacher

Michael Schumacher lining up team-mate Nico Rosberg with the help of DRS in Belgium © Sutton Images

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• In Focus:
• DRS

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button
• |
• Michael Schumacher

• Teams:
• McLaren
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• Mercedes

Michael Schumacher thinks the drag reduction system (DRS) has contributed towards much better racing this season.

The DRS works by allowing a chasing car to change the angle of its rear wing on designated sections of the circuit, boosting top speed and improving the chances of overtaking. It can only be used by the chasing car when it is within a second of the car in front and only over a predetermined length of track. Of this year's 804 overtaking manoeuvres, 363 have been assisted by DRS, but Schumacher reckons it has also set up opportunities to pass later in the lap.

"To me, I think it is very obvious that we have improved big time [in terms of overtaking]," he said. "We have had incredible races this year. I take one particular example and I think it's pretty fresh still, and that's Korea. If you think about the fight that Mark Webber and Lewis had together over there; without DRS, it would have been nowhere close, we wouldn't have seen anything. It would have just been a normal kind of old traditional kind of race and in that respect, it may not always work out perfectly, there's a little room to improve the situation but in general it has contributed a lot to some great racing."

Jenson Button reckons the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), which provides a power boost by harvesting wasted energy under braking, has played an equal role in making exciting.

"I think DRS on its own is good but personally I feel that having KERS has really helped us this year," he said. "I think we can really use it to our advantage, to overtake and obviously to try and block a position, so that, for me, has been as big as DRS."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.