Mercedes’ New Formula 1 Car Is Blowing Minds with Trick ‘DAS’ Steering Wheel
‘DAS’ can change toe alignment on the fly through pushing and pulling the steering wheel.
Someone at Mercedes took an outside-the-box approach to interpret FiA’s Formula 1 regulations. New video has surfaced of Lewis Hamilton’s fast laps at Formula 1’s Barcelona test days. Video visibly shows the car’s steering wheel can be pushed and pulled in order to dramatically adjust the car’s toe. The system goes by the nickname “DAS.”
In this YouTube video from Formula 1, the host says “it could be to get more temperature in to the tires, as you get more scrub. You can heat up the outer edge of the tire. An area that is more difficult to heat up.”
We have our own theories on this. One of them could be tire degradation. Let’s look at front end alignment basics. Toe out leads to a “wander” sensation through the steering wheel. But on a race car, it is beneficial as it helps car turn-in and reduces understeer. However, too much toe can cause the tires to wear prematurely. Allowing the toe to zero-out on straightaways has a number of benefits. It will reduce rolling resistance of the tires, reduce degradation of the tires, allow more effective braking, and increase high speed stability. If this allows longer stints on softer tires, the team will lock out the manufacturers championship with ease.
The host also says “it seems like a genius technique that may or may not be in the rules. I’m sure every other team is trying to scramble around to see what’s legal and what’s not.” but Mercedes Formula 1 technical director isn’t worried. Formula 1 reports Allison as saying, “this isn’t news to the FIA, it’s something we’ve been talking to them [about] for some time.”
“The driver have to operate it through the steering wheel, to pull the wheel towards you. That’s normally how you take the wheel off,” the host says. But the way it works out is you pull back while accelerating, and push forward while decelerating. This would work inline with g-forces on the body. In the Formula 1 interview with Allison, Lewis Hamilton was asked if it felt uncomfortable to use. His simple answer was, “nope.”
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