Quote:
Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants
There was no rule that excluded a system like Mercs DAS.
True the FIA could have banned it immediately...but its a genuine innovation, something other teams could easily have copied but haven't.
Banning the device for next season was a compromise, I suspect more for safety and reducing cost than because it gave Mercedes much of an advantage.
Its not like the FIA haven't been lenient with other teams in the past for worse like outright cheating (again see Red Bull front wing)...so their decision on DAS seems fair.
I do agree though that the Mercedes power advantage (whatever it is) is annoying and not good for the spectacle of F1 and I'd much rather all the cars were much closer in performance.
Part of me would like F1 to have a system similar to the BTCC with success ballast and top ten reverse grids etc...but then it would be less F1 and more of an entertainment show.
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I still, having read the relevant section of the FIA Technical Regulations and Sporting Regulations do not see how DAS is actually legal.
It changes the TOE of the car, not the STEERING.
TOE is a function of suspension, much like camber and castor, and those are required to be fixed by the rules.
If it changed the CAMBER by leaning the tyres in or straightening them up, that would not be allowed. But somehow it has been interpreted as steering, which it is not.
Fair play to Mercedes though, they interpreted a loophole, brought the FIA in and got a ruling on it BEFORE they incorporated it into the car. By the time any other teams knew about it in Barca testing 2020, it was too late for the rest of the teams to catch up.
But there is no way that it is a steering thing, it is definitely altering suspension characteristics, and that for me given the words of the regulations mean it should not have been permitted, and when they enquired with the FIA, the FIA should have said no.