Why F1 is the real winner of the DAS evolution

Dear Toto, I thought I would drop you a line as a follow-up to the genius move of your Mercedes team in thinking of, designing, and setting to work the new dual-axis steering system.

When it first appeared on your car last week during testing, it was hard to work out if it was an optical illusion, or if the steering wheel movement was because something had broken in the car. After all, there was no point getting too carried away if this was a glitch rather than a feature.

So imagine how exciting it was when Mercedes first confirmed it was a new system and then, shortly afterwards, your technical director James Allison confirmed that it even had a name: DAS.

The joy of social media, of course, meant that the world was instantly on to what was going on with your car, and soon video after video was appearing on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram focusing on what was happening.

And while James was unsurprisingly unwilling to offer too much by way of explanation about what DAS actually does, examining these videos up close revealed that by pushing and pulling the wheel, your drivers were altering the toe angle of the front wheels.

We have learned that in doing so, you can have the wheels in the ideal toe out position for corners, and then have them arranged perfectly in parallel for the straights - minimising aero drag and also reducing any potential for overheating.

Whether the benefit is mainly about aero for the straights, reducing overheating, or ultimately managing the overall tyre temperature, we can only guess. But it is abundantly clear that there must be a decent performance gain to be had from it, considering that your team has been working on this idea for nearly a year.

The real reason for this letter is simple: it's to thank you for reminding me about why many of us love F1

The appearance of the DAS certainly caused some surprise among rival teams and, of course, the initial response was likely to revolve around how on earth this could be legal. After all, adjusting suspension systems on the fly is clearly in breach of the regulations.

But, like most things in F1, the devil is in the detail and what your team has made sure of is that the FIA deems the toe angle change as purely a function of steering. Therefore, it doesn't count as a suspension change, so you are free to adjust as you like.

There have been some suggestions that the ability to change the toe angle once the car is running could be a breach of F1's parc ferme rules, but again you appear to have a rock-solid case to show that is not the case. In fact, if a rival can prove that moving the steering wheel to alter the toe is an illegal suspension change, then we will probably have to disqualify every car on the grid - so they would have to protest their own cars as well.

It hasn't gone amiss that article 10.2.2 of F1's sporting regulations states: "Any powered device which is capable of altering the configuration or affecting the performance of any part of any suspension system is forbidden." So if DAS is a breach of the parc ferme rules in altering suspension, then any car that has a power steering system must also be illegal.

Then, of course, there is the small matter of DAS having been banned from 2021. In light of what your team has done, a small check of next year's regulations showed a rule had been added last October outlawing any system that altered the angle of the front wheels through anything other than the steering wheel moving left and right.

While the FIA wouldn't answer when I asked them why that rule had suddenly been added, the likelihood is that it came as a response to what you were doing: as you have checked all the way that it was allowed.

So while there was no avenue for the FIA to shut down DAS this year, the door was open for the FIA to do it for 2021, with the likely intention of stopping developments of the system getting properly out of control.

DAS offers proof that F1 must steer clear of going down standard-car routes

It is quite funny to think that this rule appearing in the draft 2021 regulations could have alerted any of your rivals to the fact that something was up, as there had to have been a reason for this fresh clause existing.

While your opposition is now pondering how best to respond to what your team has unleashed, the real reason for this letter is simple. It's to thank you for reminding me about why many of us love F1.

We've heard so much about the modern rulebook being so strict and all-encompassing that the days of proper innovation have long gone. So for your team, Mercedes, to have (quite literally) reinvented the wheel is something that needs applauding.

The day that DAS emerged at Barcelona last week was one of the most fun I've had in the paddock for a while in trying to dig deeper into an evolving news story. It reminded me of that day in Monaco many years ago when wind of your team's 'secret/private' Pirelli test first got out. But you probably won't want reminding about that.

DAS will go down in F1 legend like the Brabham fan car, the Brawn double diffuser or the McLaren F-duct, all genius ideas that are thrilling to see unleashed.

But beyond the benefits DAS brings to your car, the attention that it grabbed - and the fact it has become F1's biggest tech talking point for a while - is proof about the value that technology and innovation has in F1. DAS has helped capture the imagination of fans, got people talking about F1 in a way they haven't for a while, and brought the 'wow' factor back to the championship.

It has also offered proof that F1 must steer clear of going down standard-car routes in the future. We need F1 engineers to be free thinkers and pore over every element of the rules in a bid to exploit those grey areas that give the edge and excite fans.

So once again, thank you.

But one other small request. In the kindest of ways possible, I hope DAS doesn't bring you too much of an advantage over the others. After all, we still want some excitement in F1 this season in the fight for wins. So if you could ensure that the title fight goes down to the last race of the year, that would be great.

Best wishes as always,

Jon Noble