Formula 1 drivers said it was impossible to make progress in a processional sprint race which saw few overtaking moves.

The top 13 drivers finished in the order they started with the exceptions of Max Verstappen, who passed Oscar Piastri on the first lap, and Pierre Gasly, who was unable to start from eighth on the grid due to a technical problem.

Alexander Albon, who finished 16th, blamed the decision two years ago to shorten the DRS zone on the Kemmel straight by 75 metres.

“We delayed the DRS zones last year or years before and I honestly don’t know why we’ve done that,” he told the official Formula 1 channel, “because the overtaking is more and more difficult.

“As the cars get better and better they’re harder to follow so we need a bit of help. But the DRS zones remain a bit too short. I don’t know how it was for everyone else, but that was very boring.”

However Nico Hulkenberg, who was passed by two drivers using DRS, said the effect of tyre degradation when running close behind other cars was what prevented him from fighting.

“It was like a practice session,” he said. “In the end even the quick cars didn’t progress much. It was quite a static race.

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“In heavy traffic all race long, if you’re behind five or six cars, the cumulative dirty air effect is so big that you basically have no weapons and you’re just going through your tyres. So it’s just further practice.”

Fernando Alonso, who lost one place to team mate Lance Stroll during the race, said teams will have to reconsider their approach to the grand prix because overtaking proved so difficult.

“There was not much action on track,” he said. “I think I started 14th and finished 14th, in DRS trains all the way [through] the race.

“Probably the only lesson is that qualifying may be more important than we thought. It’s important to start up at the front and then try to keep that position. It’s not guaranteed that you can overtake. So this afternoon hopefully we’ll nail the laps and let’s see tomorrow.”

Liam Lawson says the fact F1’s field is so close now is making it harder to race. “Everyone’s got quite a fast car right now, it’s very close, so in a race like that it’s very tough,” he said.

“It shows the differences with downforce levels that different people are running. So it’s a bit boring but tomorrow we have a pit stop in there at least so hopefully we’ll have a bit more strategy to play with.”

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