Some weeks, we won’t write about motorsports at all.

This is not one of those weeks.

We’ve already had a look at the trailer for the second season of Netflix’s superb docuseries, Formula 1: Drive to Survive, and also examined Formula E’s revolutionary ‘Driver’s Eye’ camera, which puts you behind the wheel.

The current talk of the motorsport world, after the second day of Formula One pre-season testing, is Mercedes’ ‘Dual Axis Steering’ system, and everyone is scrambling to find out more.

After those watching picked up on what Mercedes dubbed DAS, their tech chief James Allison, released this video:

We call it DAS – Dual Axis Steering! 🛠 James has an update on today’s hot topic of #F1Testing… 👇 pic.twitter.com/kKDHJqzutK

— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) February 20, 2020

He was then pressed about it later in the day, with Lewis Hamilton, who was using the new system, sat alongside him:

OK, so he’s clearly not keen to give mich away.

This video, from the official F1 YouTube account, sheds a little more light, but if you prefer your explanations in written form, we’ll hear from F1’s site:

As F1 technical expert Mark Hughes explains, the device appears to change the alignment (toe) of the front wheels. It is controlled by the driver by pulling and pushing on the steering column…

“If the mechanism works as assumed, the [effect of deploying the device will mean the] tyres will be heated more evenly across their width as they run fully upright, but the benefits of toe-out can still be deployed into the corner. It will be of particular benefit on circuits with long straights.”

“It appears to be a fully mechanical device, likely using the column movement to activate a lever acting upon the wheel hubs. It will add a whole new dimension to the tools available to the driver in trimming the balance of the car and looking after the tyres.”

I’ll assume that means something to all the F1 aficionados out there.

Whilst DAS is being heralded as revolutionary, it’s not like it’s going to ensure the constructor leaves its competitors in the dust

It may give Mercedes a small advantage, but there are thousands of components on a Formula 1 car that the team will have been honing ahead of the season. And Allison says there are plenty of other parts on the car which are just as important.

“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.”

F1 fans will be chomping at the bit when the new season officially gets the green light at the Melbourne Grand Prix on March 15.

Now we wait to see if the other constructors scramble to get something similar to DAS in their own vehicles.

[source:f1]