Formula 1 2020 (Will Contain Race Day Spoilers)

[Mactech]

I'm intrigued by the new Mercedes 'trombone' steering column which Lewis pulls back on at the start of the straight and pushes forward as he brakes at the end of it.
Not a Scooby what it is doing, but I doubt it is illegal as it is plain to see...just not sure what the performance advantage is.....yet!

 

[GeeJayW]

I'm intrigued by the new Mercedes 'trombone' steering column which Lewis pulls back on at the start of the straight and pushes forward as he brakes at the end of it.
Not a Scooby what it is doing, but I doubt it is illegal as it is plain to see...just not sure what the performance advantage is.....yet!

Hadn't noticed that... Hmm.
Edit - Just watching it now and hearing the discussion. Interesting to know what they are tweaking via the column. Speculation abounds of course, including using it to manually adjust front ride height. If it's doing that, I'll be surprised if it stays on the car.

Edit 2 - I'm wondering if they have found a way of adjusting the steering to make it more stable in a straight line, but then more 'agile' in the turns....

Some interesting stuff yesterday about the Mercedes rear wishbone design and rear-end packaging yesterday. The suggestion being that they may have found a significant advantage. lap times will tell of course, but maybe not until Melbourne. Ferrari bossed testing last year...

 

[bob6600]

Some interesting stuff yesterday about the Mercedes rear wishbone design and rear-end packaging yesterday. The suggestion being that they may have found a significant advantage. lap times will tell of course, but maybe not until Melbourne. Ferrari bossed testing last year...

I saw that too and interesting that Mercedes are the only team who have adopted this design. It adds a little weight but obviously they think it will gain them some lap time.

 

[Bellow]

I'm intrigued by the new Mercedes 'trombone' steering column which Lewis pulls back on at the start of the straight and pushes forward as he brakes at the end of it.
Not a Scooby what it is doing, but I doubt it is illegal as it is plain to see...just not sure what the performance advantage is.....yet!

Where did you see that?
Sounds well strange - subterfuge?

 

[Nat]

You can read and see it here, although you might need a pop up blocker.

Mercedes 2020 F1 steering wheel: Our first take on Mercedes' groundbreaking steering wheel system | Formula 1®

The article has been written by someone who has had the system explained to them by a text message in Swahili! Half the article confuses "toe" and "camber"

 

[whitenemesis]

Legality of Mercedes W11 under scrutiny as trick steering system revealed...
Legality of Mercedes W11 under scrutiny as trick steering system revealed

 

[190]

It would appear to be legal.

Mercedes: FIA has given dual-axis steering (DAS) all clear

 

[Stratman]

Hamilton's steering wheel gets the paddock talking

Andrew Benson

BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Mercedes have captured people’s attention this morning after the emergence of video footage that appears to show an innovation on the car. Video shows Lewis Hamilton moving the steering wheel towards him as he enters a straight, which appears to change the toe-in of the front wheels, before the process reverses before entering the following corner.

The word “marker” appears on the steering wheel control screen when the wheel is first moved. The ‘toe-in’ is the angle of the wheels in relation to the cars longitudinal axis.

All F1 cars run with the wheels angled slightly away from the centre of the car - a degree of ‘toe-out’ - to help turn-in to corners. But on the straights this means the tyres are slightly being dragged along sideways. There could be an advantage in making them straighter on the straights in terms of reducing overheating.

Cars can run in whatever configuration teams want during testing, but there remain questions as to whether such a system would be allowed at a race, as the rules dictate that suspension systems cannot be adjusted while the car is moving and that any “powered device which is capable of altering the configuration or affecting the performance of any part of any suspension system is forbidden”.

Technical director James Allison is in a news conference over the lunch break and he will undoubtedly be asked about this then.

 

[GeeJayW]

Hmm... wouldn't be surprised is DAS is:
a) protested by the other teams, who will no doubt wait until Melbourne to do so having spent the interim investigating if they could implement the technology on their own car and;
b) ultimately found to be in breach of some sort of regulation.

From a driving point of view, I wouldn't like a steering wheel that had fore-aft movement. On the other hand if it gave me some lap time...

 

[GeeJayW]

Just heard that Christian Horner has left the test session and has flown back to the UK. Wouldn't be surprised if his last phone call was along the lines of, "Hi Adrian we need a chat, suggest you sharpen a few pencils mate!"

 

[Bellow]

Hmm... wouldn't be surprised is DAS is:
a) protested by the other teams, who will no doubt wait until Melbourne to do so having spent the interim investigating if they could implement the technology on their own car and;
.

This - at the very least this!
Your subsequent comment about Horner as good as says so!

 

[Mactech]

It would appear to be legal.

Mercedes: FIA has given dual-axis steering (DAS) all clear

Yes, Mercedes would not have shown this in testing without discussing it at length with the FIA.
Other teams will be miffed that they have not thought of it and will protest it.
We will see if they are successful or not.
In the meantime, Mercedes will learn if it is or isn't worth perusing and will have distracted all the other teams away from what actually makes the new car quick over a race distance

 

[GeeJayW]

And now Grosjean is playing 'spot the knobhead' again...
Though in fairness has has done plenty of laps today. His neck must be well knack'd!

 

[Dryce]

b) ultimately found to be in breach of some sort of regulation.

The trick is that it's controlled by the steering wheel - which makes it difficult to hide but also makes arguing its legality much more straightforward.

The FIA could make it more difficult to implement by 'clarifying' the regulations to make it illegal for the steering wheel to move in any way apart from rotation around the axis of eth steerig column while the car was moving.

 

[Bellow]

The trick is that it's controlled by the steering wheel - which makes it difficult to hide but also makes arguing its legality much more straightforward.

Yep. Steering wheel controls angle of steered wheels. An absolute blinder by Mercedes - hats off to them!

The FIA could make it more difficult to implement by 'clarifying' the regulations to make it illegal for the steering wheel to move in any way apart from rotation around the axis of eth steerig column while the car was moving.

I sincerely hope they don't or F1 engineers would be as well quit and go design cutlery. F1 is prescriptive and proscriptive enough already.

 

[Mactech]

Sensible overview of the DAS system here:
51576106

 

[baxlin]

Not sure I’d like that, TBH, I once accidentally released the steering wheel adjuster while driving, and felt I’d lost all control of the car (OK, I know it allowed rake movement as well as fore and aft, which also contributed, but it did feel weird)

 

[Major774]

Awesome when something new is discovered, great minds at Mercedes to think of that.

 

[grober]

Sensible overview of the DAS system here:
51576106

F1 cars run slightly toe out to assist cornering [yellow]-however this gives increased tyre drag [ hence wear and heating] on the straights- the toe out can be reduced by the steering wheel movement [red] to increase top speed and decrease tyre wear- according to the BBC as MACTECH has already flagged?

 

[Petrol Pete]

Not sure I’d like that, TBH, I once accidentally released the steering wheel adjuster while driving, and felt I’d lost all control of the car (OK, I know it allowed rake movement as well as fore and aft, which also contributed, but it did feel weird)

Not sure Lewis or VB will have any problem with it, there is almost nothing these drivers would not do to gain a competitive edge.
Expect to see it banned.