F1 News

Bottas: “We’ll be DAS-ing some of the straights” but "no problem" if not allowed

12 March 2020 at 09:14
  • Bevan Youl

Valtteri Bottas has said that Mercedes will be “DAS-ing some of the straights” in Melbourne but should opposing teams protest the use of it, it would be “no big problem”.

Mercedes introduced the world to ‘Dual-Axis Steering’ during pre-season testing in Barcelona which brought along a lot of debate about its legality.
 
The Silver Arrows stated that it had been designed under knowledge of the FIA but there have been hints that rival teams could oppose its use for the Australian Grand Prix.

The Finn, who displayed his new helmet design for the weekend (as seen above) thursday, isn't concerned should the system's use be prevented.

"I'm sure we'll be DAS-ing some of the straights," he said.

"It depends which kind of laps, and which sessions, and so on.

"But we're still happy to have it in the car. We hope it can give an advantage, but again, we will see.

“I'm sure we will have to wait for what happens [about the protest], but like I said earlier we would we would be happy to run it.

"But it is up to the team to calculate the possible risk of it being taken away.

"In short answer, yes, we would like to keep it, but if there's a big risk we don't, there is no big problem then."

The DAS system allows for adjustment of the front wheel alignment through push/pull movement of the steering wheel.

It is yet to be determined how much of an advantage Mercedes’ innovation could be but qualifying, where the smallest margins separate grid positions, could prove its effectiveness.

"That is something we would need to see in practice,” Bottas said on it’s possible use for qualifying.

"Most likely yes, we'll use it in qualifying."