Abu Dhabi didn’t just mark the end of the 2025 season; it also signaled Formula 1’s farewell to the DRS system as teams prepare for the 2026 regulations. The recently concluded season brought with it several features that will no longer be seen on F1 cars, and at the top of that list is the Drag Reduction System, used for the last time in Abu Dhabi.
In this way, Abu Dhabi has gone down in history not only for crowning a new world champion but also for witnessing the final activation of the DRS. The system was originally introduced in 2011 to facilitate overtaking, representing a major technical milestone for the sport. However, with the new 2026 regulations, the decade-old system has officially been retired.
So, who had the honor of using it last? That distinction goes to Kimi Antonelli. At Yas Marina, while the world’s attention was focused on Lando Norris crossing the finish line, the Mercedes driver pressed the DRS button one final time.
Antonelli activated the system to attempt a late-race overtake on Yuki Tsunoda. Although the Italian couldn’t manage to pass the Japanese driver, finishing in P15, he nevertheless made history by marking the end of an era.
Starting in 2026, Formula 1 will replace DRS with new technologies designed to assist overtaking. Among these is a system powered by electric energy and the so-called Manual Override Mode (MOM), which provides attack assistance without the fixed zones that defined the DRS. To make these changes easier for fans to understand, the FIA is also revising the naming of new technical elements for clarity and consistency across the sport.
For now, though, spare a thought for a little hydraulic actuator that spent 14 years opening and closing on command. It gave us iconic moves from Monza to Spa, divided opinion like nothing else, and bowed out quietly under the Yas Marina lights – operated one final time by a teenage rookie who will probably tell his grandchildren about the day he killed DRS.
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