Christian Horner says Formula One should "reserve judgement" about overtaking and 2017's new cars until the after the upcoming back-to-back races in China and Bahrain.
Formula One's new era officially began at the Australian Grand Prix and the processional race seemed to confirm long-held concerns the faster, wider cars will be harder to overtake due to increased levels of downforce creating more turbulent air behind. Drivers agreed after the race, with Lewis Hamilton struggling to get close enough to pass Max Verstappen at a critical point in the race for the win and Nico Hulkenberg saying overtaking had been "almost impossible".
In the end, the race for victory was determined through pit strategy, with the time Hamilton lost behind Verstappen helping Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel emerge from his own pit stop ahead of the Mercedes driver, who had led away from pole. Red Bull boss Horner points out the Albert Park circuit has never been famous for overtaking and thinks fans should be happy the new cars allow drivers to push for longer.
"I think we have to reserve judgement until after two or three races," Horner said when asked about overtaking concerns. "I think if you look at Melbourne historically there has never been a lot of overtakes here.
"China and Bahrain are two circuits which are much easier to overtake at before drawing judgement. The positive thing is the drivers were pushing all race so there wasn't a lot of fuel saving and not much tyre saving going on which was a positive."
Last year's Chinese Grand Prix had 128 overtakes, setting a new Formula One record for a dry race. Lewis Hamilton's 18 passes were the most one driver achieved in a single 2016 event.