The most interesting tech from the F1 2020 season so far is the Mercedes DAS system. Here’s how it could work.

CREDIT: XPB

On the 2nd day of pre-season testing in Barcelona, Lewis Hamilton was seen pushing and pulling the steering wheel on the straights and in the corners, as shown in the video below. Mercedes are not giving anything away so we can only speculate, but this system could be adjusting the amount of toe on the front wheels to try and maximise grip during cornering.

What is toe"

Available at: https://virtualracingschool.com/academy/iracing-career-guide/setups/camber-toe/

So why would a team want to dynamically change the front toe" Toe is effectively the angle between the direction the tyres are pointing relative to the direction the vehicle is pointing, when viewed from above. 1) Zero toe means the tyres are both parallel to eachother and to the direction of travel of the racecar
2) Toe in, or positive toe, means the tyres point towards eachother
3) Toe out, or negative toe, means the tyres point away from eachother.
The amount of toe can affect the vehicle’s dynamic behaviour and consequently driving stability as well as tyre wear and temperature.

James Allison, Technical Director at Mercedes F1, did confirm that: ?We have a system in the car, it?s a novel idea. We?ve got a name for it, it?s called DAS [Dual Axis Steering] if you’re interested, and it just introduces an extra dimension of the steering from...