No more ‘yo-yo’ overtaking, but the drivers are sceptical: “It depends on the conditions in Miami”

Yo-yo pending One of the main points of discussion during the first three GPs of the season was that of overtaking considered ‘artificial’, decided more by the power delivered to the cars at a given moment by the computers than by the actual driving of a driver. In this sense, the words uttered by Lando Norris after the Suzuka race had caused a sensation, when the reigning world champion had admitted that he had overtaken Hamilton “without wanting to do so” but because he was “forced” by a sudden increase in thrust from his power unit. In Miami there was curiosity to understand whether the regulation adjustments introduced during the five-week break would have any effect. Indeed, the situation seemed different: there were fewer overtakings but the battles seemed more ‘real’ and decided more by the drivers’ braking ability and duels rather than by the power peaks of the power units. The drivers’ analysis According to the drivers themselves, however, not all that glitters is gold and the problems of what have been dubbed ‘yo-yo overtaking’ will once again arise. Charles Leclerc, speaking of the difficulties he had in attacking and overtaking Oscar Piastri after reaching him in the final phase of the Sprint, blamed the Florida heat: “I think the fact that it was so hot overheated my tires quite quickly and this made it very difficult for me to get closer compared to the first two or three races – said the Ferrari driver – so it probably depends a little more on the conditions that were there, but we’ll see”. Similar was the opinion expressed by Piastri himself: “The ‘yo-yo’ overtaking will still remain a normal thing – warned the Australian – at a certain point my engineer told me that Charles was catching up to me by four tenths on one straight and then I gained three on the next one. So there will still be these big differences in speed”. The summary was provided by the reigning world champion, Lando Norris: “In a Sprint nothing really changes, apart from superclips and things like that – said the Englishman from McLaren – but for the rest [le nuove regole sono] a step in the right direction. That’s all we can really ask for at the moment and the rest will have to come perhaps later in the year but also in the years to come.” We have to wait.

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News
2026-05-03 18:01:00