Mercedes new driving system has knocked the Pink Mercedes off the top of /Formuladank’s memes. It had been thought the controversy over Racing Point’s apparent promotion to being a full satellite team of Mercedes, adopting their power unit, gearbox, suspension and now bodywork would be the talking point running up to the start of the season (or release of Netflix Drive to Survive S2 next week).

That was not to be. Mercedes debuted a new technological aid yesterday, on in a testing session possibly more dramatic than many of the current F1 races.

The DAS (Duel Axis Steering) system is a genuinely exciting and innovative method of varying the angle of the front wheels between the straights and the curves, maximising braking power, control and straightline speed for varying parts of the circuit. Crucially it gives Hamilton and Bottas the power to to this manually from the console as a simple driver aid and it does not appear automated in any way. It is therefore is (currently) considered withn the rules. There is some fear that this will make the already dominant Merc team unbeatable in 2020.

It it Ain’t Broke..
However, we’ve not yet seen this in a race. DAS could just as easily promote excessive tire wear, making it impractical over a race distance. In decades of F1 innovation we’ve never seen this before. There must be some reason this admittedly very clever and interesting innovation has appeared just before a significant technological change in the sport, almost as if Mercedes are showing off an impractical option they’ve never felt the need to introduce before now.

If 2019 is anything to go by Mercedes remain ahead of Red Bull not from raw speed but of Hamilton’s supernatural management of tire wear. If the DAS system takes that power away from the 7 time champion one of his major strengths will be neutralised. A repeat of 2019’s Monaco race, when he led from the front on ragged Medium’s from a charging Vertappen on Hards, will be a tougher proposition.

Ferrari to the rescue
Ferrari has a history of threatening to quit various forms of motor racing over rule changes and their reputation for toys out of the pram behavior has just become part of the sport’s tradition, something like yellow jerseys in the Tour De France. Motorcycle fans might know John Surtees is the only winner of an F1 and Motorcycle Championship, but he’s also the only Ferrari champion to win in a blue car, as Enzo threatened to pull out of F1 in 1964 over rules he did not like and banned the cars temporarily from racing in red as a threat. Jaguar and Aston Martin both ended their involvement in Le Mans in the mid sixties after Enzo histrionics (prompting the events of FORD vs FERARRI) and as recently as March 2018 Ferrari threatened to pull out of F1 if the new 2020 regulations weren’t to their liking.

Maranello’s long reputation for histrionics has long acted as a natural counter balance to the overbearing smugness of Ferrari owners

(Those of us unable to watch Ferrari content on Top Gear or The Grand Tour without a nearby receptacle for undigested food will know what I’m referring to)

.. but in this case their objections might be useful, as if DAS is anything like as effective as William’s active suspension of the 1980s, you can be sure Maranello will have it banned faster then you can say ‘Ferrari Fuel Smells Like GrapeFruit Juice’
Mercedes will likely accept this as one of the F1 personalities most concerned about Ferrari pulling out in 2018 was Merc boss Toto Wolf.

Haas 2019 is illustrative
Those concerned about the Merc DAS system and bothered by Racing Point ‘copying’ the 2019 Mercedes would do well to look at the 2019 Haas car. That was a close copy of the Ferrari, and looked quite impressive in testing. Testing is not racing however, and however much it looked like the 2018 Ferrari car the Haas in race mode proved to be more a machine for turning large blocks of rubber into tiny bits of rubber than a machine for competing in an F1 championship.