Innovative Mercedes steering system is legal – Allison

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emailBy: Chris Medland | 12 hours ago

Mercedes technical director James Allison is confident in the legality of an innovative steering solution that the team was discovered using during the second morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Barcelona.

Onboard footage of Lewis Hamilton showed the defending champion pulling the steering wheel closer to him on straights, in turn causing the front wheels to point inwards slightly – or toe in – before both the steering wheel and wheels returned to normal position prior to braking. Allison says the system is called DAS – which stands for ‘Dual Axis Steering’ – and has been known to the FIA for some time.

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“I probably won’t shed a great deal more light than what you saw on the TV but we have a system in the car, it’s a novel idea,” Allison said. “We’ve got a name for it, it’s called DAS, if you’re interested, and it just introduces an extra dimension for the steering, for the driver, which we hope will be useful during the year. But precisely how we use it and why we use it, that’s something we will keep to ourselves.

“This isn’t news to the FIA, it’s something we’ve been talking to them for some time. The rules are pretty clear about what’s permitted on steering systems, and we’re pretty confident that it matches those requirements.”

The system caught the eye throughout Thursday morning, but Allison said it is just one of a number of innovations on the car.



“It’s fun of course, it really is fun, but perhaps one of the things that’s not greatly appreciated is that each of the cars we bring to the track are festooned with innovation,” he said. “It’s just not as obvious with a discrete, standalone system like this when you can see it with your own eyes.

“One of the things that gives me massive pride from working with Mercedes is to give me part of a team that doesn’t just turn the sausage handle each year, but is working out how we can work fast enough to bring these innovations to the track and make them stick. This is fun, but it’s only the tip of an iceberg of similar stuff that’s written across the car.”

Hamilton himself says the system is not distracting from a driver’s point of view, despite the steering wheel moving forwards and backwards in his hands.

“We’re trying to get on top of it, understand it, but safety-wise no problem today and the FIA are okay with the project,” Hamilton said. “For me, it’s really encouraging to see that my team is continuing to innovate and stay ahead of the game, and I think that’s down to the great minds in the team and so hopefully that’ll work to our benefit.”

Mercedes, Formula 1

 

DAS already banned by 2021 technical regulations

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emailBy: Chris Medland | 12 hours ago

The innovative Mercedes Dual Axis Steering (DAS) has already been banned from Formula 1 under the 2021 technical regulations, although it is set to remain eligible for the coming season.

Mercedes ran the new system on Thursday morning, with onboard footage showing Lewis Hamilton pulling the steering wheel towards him on straights in order to create more toe-in with the front tires. DAS is likely to have some sort of aerodynamic benefit but is believed to have the biggest impact on tire temperatures, either cooling them if making the toe angle neutral or ensuring they are at the optimal temperature for the following corner at varying angles.



While rival teams will be trying to understand exactly how DAS works and what its performance benefits are, any use will be restricted to just this season due to a change in the regulations next year.

Article 10.5.2 of the 2021 year’s technical regulations reads: “The re-alignment of the steered wheels, as defined by the position of the inboard attachment of the relevant suspensions members that remain a fixed distance from each other, must be uniquely defined by a monotonic function of the rotational position of a single steering wheel.”

While the FIA is understood to have been happy with the concept’s legality this year, it is unclear whether the change was a direct move in response to Mercedes, with the regulations published last October.

“You have been very wise in noticing the change to the 2021 technical regulations,” FIA race director Michael Masi said. “We will see what teams can come up with within those boundaries of what the regulations are written for in 2021.”

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Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says he expects the FIA to be able to explain why the system is legal this year and doesn’t foresee a protest against Mercedes’ innovation.

“I have seen that there is a lot of discussion on it; personally on my side I haven’t looked in detail what it is about but I think we fully trust the FIA to show they have made the right decisions,” Binotto said. “I completely trust what they judge on it.

“Are we discussing with the FIA? Not yet — we will do for clarification, as it is important for us to understand, but as I said we will not challenge the FIA on their decision because we trust them fully in what will be or has been the decision on it.”



DAS, FIA, Mercedes, Formula 1

 

Ok. So you use it for one year, win a championship, and take it off the car for 2021.

In the meantime, make another way of controlling it without it being a steering wheel
for 2021.

I admire someone who is already ahead, and working on the next thing to STAY ahead.
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