‘Shame for Us’ – Mercedes Sad Over F1 Banning DAS in 2021

It is a usual scenario to witness teams bringing in revolutionary updates to their cars, which consequently flares up the rival teams, and in the end, to maintain the fairness of the sport, the mind-blowing technology is neglected by the FIA from the forthcoming years; Mercedes being the recent victim.

Prior to the 2020 season, F1 witnessed something different in both the Mercedes cars during the winter testing at Barcelona. When the cameras caught Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas moving their steering wheels back and forth while driving, questions arose from the rival teams.

The brief cameo of Dual Axis Steering system

Mercedes couldn’t avoid the questions raised by the rival teams like Ferrari and Red Bull and opened up about the breath-taking technology – the DAS, which stands for Dual Axis Steering system.

Consequently, Mercedes’ explanations were enough for Red Bull to lodge a protest against the Silver Arrows. The Austrian-based outfit demanded FIA clarify the legality of the system.

And, following the checks, the FIA cleared that the DAS system was legal. They revealed that the system only had interactions with the steering, and not with the suspensions. Furthermore, DAS did not play any role in assisting the aerodynamics of the cars.

DAS system’s major work is at the toe of the car, where it adds another dimension to the tires. The DAS helps the front tires to heat up evenly over the area.

This will avoid the tires from degrading rather quickly and help the driver stay out on the track for a longer period of time.

However, the FIA were unhappy with the loopholes in their rulebook and tweaked it a bit. Unfortunately, that led to the end of the DAS system’s cameo in Formula 1.

Are Mercedes replacing DAS with another new technology?

Speaking to Mercedes, James Allison, the team’s sporting director, opened up about DAS’s contribution to the team in 2020. Furthermore, he also broke the silence on what will be the replacement to the controversial system.

“2021 also sadly means that we say goodbye to an old friend from 2020, which was the DAS system, which is a shame for us,” he said.

“Because that was a useful thing on our car. It brought us good performance in many tracks last year.

“And so, it’s with a little bit of sadness that we say goodbye to it. But that’s the rules. And we go into 2021 with a conventional steering system like everybody else,” James added.

The absence of DAS will definitely dent Mercedes’s performance on the track over the upcoming season. However, the Silver Arrows are always known to think out of the box, which has helped them reign the entire grid for the past seven years.

So, could we witness another mind-blowing technology making its way into the sport via Mercedes over the 2021 season?

Read More: Mercedes Will Compensate for DAS Ban ‘in Some Other Way’ – Toto Wolff