Mercedes’ Skillful Communication on the DAS

The first day of testing in Barcelona was marked by discussions about the striking resemblance between the Racing Point and last year’s Mercedes. While this caused a bit of a stir, especially among the mid-grid teams, it wasn’t enough to create a psychodrama in a paddock where Haas’s closeness with Ferrari or AlphaTauri’s with Red Bull has been established for years.

On the other hand, it was a true earthquake that struck the microcosm gathered in Barcelona on this Thursday morning. Indeed, onboard footage from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes clearly showed that as he entered the straight line, the Briton was able to move the depth of his steering wheel. Subsequently, the footage showed that this movement had a direct impact on the camber of the front axle!

The images were thus viewed and reviewed by the entire media center as well as all the teams to understand how such a mechanism works and the advantages it can bring. With such an innovation, the presence of James Allison, Mercedes’ technical director, and Lewis Hamilton at the press conference organized during the lunch break could only draw crowds.

The British engineer had a big smile and did not avoid the subject. He even claimed the innovation and gave the internal name used: “I probably won’t tell you much more than what you’ve seen on TV, but yes, we have a new system in the car. We have a name for it: we call it DAS if you’re interested. It simply brings a new dimension to steering for the driver. We hope it will be useful to us this year. But we will keep to ourselves how it works precisely and why we use it.”

In the aftermath, he reaffirmed that this project had been discussed and approved by the FIA. In any case, this does not impact the winter testing since only the FIA’s race stewards at the Grand Prix can declare if the car is legal or not.

It didn’t take more than that for all the teams to be questioned on the subject. Daniel Ricciardo proved to be a good sport by praising the title holders’ sense of innovation: « I love seeing that, hats off to them. They dominated the entire turbo era and they continue to push everyone when it should be up to us to challenge them. They are the benchmark at the moment and few people would have thought of this system. »

At Ferrari, it had to be acknowledged that resources would be allocated to study this innovation, as stated by Mattia Binotto: « I think we need to understand how it works and what the real performance gain might be. I don’t think we have a good understanding of it yet. Without a doubt, we will analyze and develop it if it’s worth it. »

This is where the performance of Mercedes perhaps lies even more: forcing all its competitors to spend time and money on a system it has already developed, without them being certain that it will bridge the performance gap.

Above all, it must be remembered that if Liberty Media had not decided for the first time that winter testing was an official event, there would not have been the television coverage effectively in place, and the onboard camera footage would not have been available. The entire grid could have discovered this system in Melbourne. But Mercedes could not ignore this increased transparency. To the point where one might wonder if the objective of unveiling it so early was precisely to disrupt the development plans of its rivals…

With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr