Valtteri Bottas says him and Lewis Hamilton are sharing all the data they gather on DAS to eventually be able to extract the maximum from the system.
Mercedes has been testing their new innovative Dual Axis Steering system during pre-season testing and Valtteri Bottas says it “works well” for now.
“Everything works well with it,” said the Finn.
“We’re still learning more and more about it, we’re happy to have it in the car and no issues really found so far, so it’s all working well.”
Bottas was asked if he could gain an advantage on Hamilton through the use of DAS, but the Finn says he believes they will both extract the maximum out of the system “eventually”.
“You need to be the king of every tool in the car and you need to extract everything from your car, including the new systems.
“Both me and Lewis [are] trying to extract the maximum out of it, and obviously from my side, I’ll try to do something better if I can.
“But obviously we’re sharing all the information, all the knowledge, all the data, so eventually, for sure, we both will be able to extract everything out of it.”
However for now the DAS system is still being evaluated and examined by the team.
“Obviously between [Weeks 1 and 2], the engineers had more time to learn from the data and make more guidelines for us as drivers about best use and the kind of situations that can bring the advantage, how big the advantage it will give us is, which tracks – that’s a little bit of a question mark,” explained Bottas.
“But also it will be driver-dependent, especially at the race weekends and whichever situations we think we might get the benefit. It’s up to us to also explore and discover and find the best ways to use it.
“So, a nice little extra tool. Not that there were so many things to do anyway on the steering wheel…”
Source: formula1.com