Mercedes’ Dual-Axis Steering (DAS) system caused a stir as the 2020 season got underway in Austria, with teams and pundits quickly noticing the innovation.
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Red Bull swiftly lodged a protest against the system with the FIA – and episode two of the third season of Netflix’s Drive To Survive (DTS) docuseries, which was released earlier this week, shows the interaction Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner had on the matter in Styria.
“So you’ve got your DAS on the car,” Horner said to Wolff.
“Well don’t take it personally, but we’ll protest it today and then it’s down to the FIA if they’re either happy or they’re not,” he added.
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Wolff then replied, “As an innovation, isn’t it great?” to which Horner said: “It’s clever. Hats off, full respect.”
Commenting on the rivalry between Red Bull and Mercedes in the same episode of the docuseries, Wolff said that Horner likes to have “his little war games” with them.
“Christian is a good operator. He likes to have his little war games between us. But the rivalry is big,” Wolff said.
The FIA eventually decided that Mercedes should be allowed to continue to run the system on its cars in 2020, but DAS would be banned from the following season onwards.
The innovative system allowed Mercedes drivers Sir Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to adjust the toe of the front wheels by pulling the steering wheel back or pushing it forward.
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This helped them manage tyre temperatures and the system was especially useful when trying to warm up the front tyres.