All eyes focus on Mercedes
NEW ANGLE: FASTEST ALREADY, ONLOOKERS WILL BE WATCHING SILVER ARROWS’ STEERING
Final pre-season testing may spring surprises, notably from ‘slow’ Ferrari.
Today marks the start of the final pre-season testing for 2020 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona and it will be interesting to observe whether the Mercedes team will continue to dominate.
They not only recorded the most number of laps but Valtteri Bottas’ time of 1.15.732 was the quickest thus far this year – a clear indication that it is going to be business as usual.
But it was not all plain sailing for the German manufacturer, following the broadcast of an onboard camera shot exposing a very interesting situation.
When the W11 was on track, the normal left, right action of the steering wheel was enhanced with a push and pull movement.
What concerned other teams was footage of Lewis Hamilton driving on a straight with the digital dash display of his Mercedes indicating the word “marker” .
This was something new, at which point Hamilton is seen pulling the steering wheel towards him but on entering the next corner pushing the wheel away.
What the result of these actions was became a matter for discussion in the pit lane and media areas. Rumours abounded they were changing the front wheel toe-in angle which also lowered the ride height of the car, a direct infringement of Article 10.2.3,
I am sure you could sense the protests being prepared.
Mercedes were not forthcoming in supplying an answer.
James Allison, Mercedes technical director and Hamilton, revealed little more at a scheduled press conference during last Thursday’s lunch break.
Allison was reported as saying. “We have a system in the car and it is a novel idea. It is called DAS, and the acronym stands for Dual Axis Steering.
“It just introduces an extra dimension to the steering, to the driver, that we hope will be useful during the year.”
This was about as technical as it was going to get, as his next statement was: “Precisely how we use it, when and why we use it we shall keep to ourselves.”
Allison also confirmed the FIA was fully aware of the development.
The best explanation so far is the toe-in angle changes but does not actually lower the ride height and would have definite benefits in controlling tyre temperatures and significantly aiding cornering ability.
Unfortunately at present it is all guesswork, as there are no images or engineering explanations for the mechanical operation of the system outside of the Mercedes facilities.
Apparently the controlling body has given Mercedes the green light to use the system for the 2020 season, but FIA race director Michael Masi has confirmed DAS would be banned at the end of this year.
Most of the teams impressed during initial testing with good lap times and reliability over the equivalent of multiple race distances.
There were also some surprises in terms of pace – Red Bull proving that the Honda power unit really has improved in leaps and bounds.
So has Racing Point, although it has been dubbed the “Pink Mercedes” being almost an exact replica of last year’s Championship winning W10 from Brackley.
McLaren continued as it left off last season with good pace and reliability but face serious competition from Racing Point this year.
Newly named Alpha Tauri, ex Toro Rosso, has moved up the challengers table with Alfa Romeo looking to be another likely competitor in the mid field.
Surprisingly it was the Ferrari SF1000 that has so far not produced either speed or durability.
There were many rumours emanating from Italy prior to the pre-season testing that the latest Ferrari had not met expectations in several areas.
Of course you have to wonder whether this was perhaps a degree of sand bagging, which is the view of the Mercedes team.
As of today perhaps we will see more pace from the latest Maranello offering, or perhaps we will have to wait until the lights go green in Australia.
One must hope this is the case rather than the idea the Italian press were correct and the SF1000 leaves a lot to be desired.
It just introduces an extra dimension to the steering, to the driver
James Allison
Mercedes team technical director