F1 | Mercedes Running Controversial Steering System In Barcelona

[Sasha Jednak]

So we have another: gray area in rules -> team uses it -> rules are "clarified"
Now, this last part about clarification depends of which team is involved, so clarification can go to approve or not that gray area.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Because the fans get their knickers wet about it being a drivers championship (lol)........

* it is a constructors championship and always has been since year dot, the WDC became important to fans of drivers....drivers are about 10% of the package...
MotoGP is about 80% rider....or in Marcs case, 98%

Lewis ain't winning owt in a Williams..for example...

And why is it that Marquez will only ride a Honda? Hmm?

 

[sbabb]

Well said. I'm inclined to say that Mercedes explored the semantics of the regulations with lawyers and consultants, and they will likely be using this system this year without repercussion.

I think the bigger issue here, that no one seems to be addressing, is that Mercedes may be mitigating the central thing Hamilton likes to moan about: tire wear! Is there just going to be radio silence now between 44 and the pit team? That's going to make for terrible TV!

it would make for better TV
because we wouldn´t here about pointless things that aren´t there every 5min and maybe instead the cams would show the action on track that they miss everytime a midfield battle is happening

 

[RichardHessels]

Wait a minute...level playing field?
Is this Formula One...home of innovation in motor-sports...or is this kindergarden?
If Mercedes comes up with a novel approach to toe adjustments, why the heck should they have to share it just to appease others?
If it is deemed illegal by the governing body, that's one thing.
It is something entirely different, if teams cry foul simply because they couldn't come up with the concept.
This sport isn't about 'participation trophies'.

But "unlimited" budgets can make it impossible to follow the pace of development by teams that have budget.

 

[Terry Rock]

But "unlimited" budgets can make it impossible to follow the pace of development by teams that have budget.

That is not now...and never was a Mercedes problem is it.
It has also been the case in motor racing from day one.
Force India a few years back...despite being in turmoil and with one of the smallest budgets, was able to steamroll others with twice their budget. It is called innovating for a reason.
People get to apply new out-of-the-box thinking.
As to the people complaining about adjusting a 'fixed' aero device...last I look, that applied to wings, floors and strakes....not wheels.
Wheels never showed up in my study of Reynold numbers at aviation school.

 

[LeSunTzu]

Technical innovation is part of the game in any racing series. Marc Donohue wrote a book about that 40 years ago

Of course nowadays with the thick F1 rulebook people are quick to label any innovation as "loophole exploit". But rules without holes are for spec series.

 

[BrainsBush]

epic:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1230809562636222464

 

[farjam]

Vettel's car's power unit died some laps after setting one of the highest speeds in speed trap(329.x Km/h). it is confirmed it was only a Turbo(not that much a worry compare to other elements of the PU) unit that died, they have fitted a new PU unit now. i hope they have their best reliability to be able to fight Mercedes and DAS, if the DAS is used during the season.

*also Lewis's power unit seems sick too, lots of smoke and he abandoned his lap, maybe to cool something

 

[paracletus]

I have no problem with teams pushing forward innovative new technologies in F1, in fact it should be encouraged.
As we know, that is nothing new and back 30-40 years ago it was far more prevalent in the sport.
With all the stringent regulations on everything, to me it is unfortunate that engineers are extremely limited in what they can do these days.

 

[safi hellie]

And why is it that Marquez will only ride a Honda? Hmm?

You clearly don't follow MotoGP.... anyway loads more skill involved in bike racing obviously... so no point carrying this on as its off topic...

 

[Icebear1991]

What about safety? What happens if there is some sort of impact on one of the front wheels? This can easily happen in the first corners. Can this knock the wheel out of the drivers hands and maybe injure him? At least, the driver might loose control.
Or what happen during a crash into the barriers? This reduces the distance of the wheel to the driver a lot. Maybe the driver hits the wheel with his head.

However, the idea sounds interesting.

 

[farjam]

What about safety? What happens if there is some sort of impact on one of the front wheels? This can easily happen in the first corners. Can this knock the wheel out of the drivers hands and maybe injure him? At least, the driver might loose control.
Or what happen during a crash into the barriers? This reduces the distance of the wheel to the driver a lot. Maybe the driver hits the wheel with his head.

However, the idea sounds interesting.

The car passed FIA crash testing successfully with that system integrated.
also today :
Michael Masi said the FIA would never allow anything to be run if it was considered to pose any danger.
"I think from the FIA perspective, at the end of the day, safety is our number one element," he said.
"So there's no questions regarding the safety side of it. Rest assured that that is the highest priority from our side."

They gave us ugly halo for safety, they went that far for safety...

After all i was hoping for a midfield team to find a worthy loophole, not mercedes/ferrari/redbull, maybe we actually need a more open rules instead of this limited ones to help the midfield team to find new things without the need of cat and mouse play of the current the rule book, i'm afraid that Mr. Brawn said there will be the possibility of changing rule GP by GP at 2021 instead of a full season based on one rule set to avoid big exploit(i say innovation), imagine a midfield team finds something good and then lose it in the next GP without being illegal at the first place.

 

[UMC 22]

This system has already been banned for 2021, probably in direct response to this "loophole" being found.

This year's rule:
"The front wheels are adjusted solely by the steering and under the full control of the driver."

Next year's rule:
"The alignment of the front wheels must only take place through a constant function of a rotational movement of a single steering wheel."

Source: BBC Sport

 

[Blamer]

When I was a kid DAS was fun

 

[farjam]

This system has already been banned for 2021, probably in direct response to this "loophole" being found.

This year's rule:
"The front wheels are adjusted solely by the steering and under the full control of the driver."

Next year's rule:
"The alignment of the front wheels must only take place through a constant function of a rotational movement of a single steering wheel."

Source: BBC Sport

Well, it was banned for 2021 since the day that they have written article 10.5 of 2021 Regs maybe back in September, actually i believe back then when Mercedes saw that it will going to be banned for 2021 they pushed to use it in 2020 (as the 2020 regs were finalized even before that without that rule) as a good looking hanging fruit

_____________
Seb after seeing DAS system
"Was ist DAS?"

nothing but a dad joke

 

[Dr. Death]

gameshark? like the old psone cheat codes for games? haha

Gameshark was multi console, but yeah. Mercedes by this point is a gameshark on wheels. They really just lap around everyone. In 2017 and 18 at least ferrari was close, but last year they just smoked them.

 

[UMC 22]

Well, it was banned for 2021 since the day that they have written article 10.5 of 2021 Regs maybe back in September, actually i believe back then when Mercedes saw that it will going to be banned for 2021 they pushed to use it in 2020 (as the 2020 regs were finalized even before that without that rule) as a good looking hanging fruit

I personally think it's more likely the other way around, because tech like this isn't just invented overnight. Merc said themselves that they kept the FIA informed of what they were up to, so it's been known about for some time. It was probably too late to change the rules for 2020 though so they're doing it for 2021 instead.

Personally, if this system actually gives any real advantage then I think we would have seen it on cars before now. F1 teams aren't stupid, they're always looking for ways around the regs. This one seems too obvious to have not been noticed already if it had actual potential. I wouldn't be surprised if others have looked into it before but have decided that the cost, complexity, reliability and potential ban wasn't worth the investment. Not an issue for Merc with all their cash.

 

[PGSM]

Cheating. Plain and simple. But they'll probably allow it and just think how stupid the racing will be. Hamilton is already way out front. So now we'll have him lapping P2 on down the field. Should be great for an already marginally boring series. Shame. I had hopes it would go the other way.

 

[farjam]

I personally think it's more likely the other way around, because tech like this isn't just invented overnight. Merc said themselves that they kept the FIA informed of what they were up to, so it's been known about for some time. It was probably too late to change the rules for 2020 though so they're doing it for 2021 instead.

Personally, if this system actually gives any real advantage then I think we would have seen it on cars before now. F1 teams aren't stupid, they're always looking for ways around the regs. This one seems too obvious to have not been noticed already if it had actual potential. I wouldn't be surprised if others have looked into it before but have decided that the cost, complexity, reliability and potential ban wasn't worth the investment. Not an issue for Merc with all their cash.

Well, actually that's what i meant. maybe i have chosen the wrong words but by "pushing in to use in 2020" i meant they had the idea or even the prototype already back then (and they wanted to use in 2021 to get a little head start) but when they've found out it will be banned for 2021 they pushed it to use it in 2020. the idea of it, was with Mercedes since Alison's arrival.

 

[justfdl]

Given the amount of times I've found that inadvertently pulling on my wheel seems to produce the desired effect I think it already is

Yeah, not sure if this works for you, it certainly won't work for me, as I tend to pull in the braking zone, and their system is set up backwards! Maybe we can get a reverse setting ingame?