Mercedes on DAS: 'Would have been self-destructive to force others'

When Formula 1 started testing in February 2020 for that year's season, Mercedes came up with a new technical gadget: DAS. According to James Allison, it was possible to get more out of the system, but drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas found it difficult to use.

DAS system did not become second nature

"It did almost everything we'd hoped for," says Allison in conversation with Auto, Motor und Sport. "Actually, we wanted to use it even more, from corner to corner and from new to old tyres."

However, it was not possible to get everything out of the system because Hamilton and Bottas still had some trouble with DAS. "It turned out that the drivers could not easily use the system as a control mechanism. It didn't become second nature, like steering to the left or right," continues Allison.

Prohibited from 2021

The DAS system will be banned before 2021 and will therefore not return to the Mercedes of next season. "It is a pity that we could not make the most of it and that it will be banned for next year. But we understand that it would have been self-destructive to force everyone else into this development," concludes the technical director.