Ricciardo tops overtaking charts as figures halve from 2016
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo registered the most overtakes over the course of the 2017 season, as the overall tally of overtaking lowered by more than half from last year.
In analysis data released by Pirelli, Ricciardo managed a total of 43 overtaking manoeuvres across the 20-race season, including the most during a single race when he achieved 13 passes at the British Grand Prix.
The Australian pulled off almost half as many overtakes as team-mate Max Verstappen, who finished second in the list on 22 moves, meaning Red Bull passed more cars than any other team in the field.
2016 saw Formula 1 set a new record for number of overtakes in a season with 866 over 21 events, this year’s figures had a considerable drop to 435 – the lowest of the decade.
The slump in overtaking was predicted by F1 figureheads, who believed the faster, wider 2017 cars with added downforce would mean manoeuvres would become more difficult.
The incident-filled Azerbaijan Grand Prix recorded the highest amount of overtakes in one grand prix, with 42, while the Russian Grand Prix suffered the lowest total with just one pass counted.
Newly-crowned world champion and Verstappen were the overtook the least amount of times out of all the drivers, with both being passed just twice during the year.