Andrew: This delves into a very interesting, much wider question, which essentially is, have the rules introduced in 2022 worked?

When they were being created, originators Ross Brawn and Pat Symonds hoped that they would improve racing to such an extent that the DRS overtaking aid would no longer be needed.

That has proved not to be the case. Because while it’s easier to follow in this new generation of cars, they also produce less drag, and therefore less slipstream, so it’s not necessarily any easier to overtake. So DRS is still needed.

Plus, the tyres still overheat when pushed hard, even though Pirelli keep being asked to stop that happening. The tyre supplier either won’t or can’t do anything to stop that, which will always be a problem for overtaking.

But the new rules were also intended to make the racing closer and prevent domination. Paradoxically, while the field spread last year was one of the smallest ever, it was also the sport’s most dominant season by a team.

It could be argued that the new rules, far from improving F1, have made it worse, at least at the front. I suspect this will become more of a discussion point this year – especially as these rules form the basis of the new ones being introduced in 2026 and which are still being worked on.