© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Williams’ George Russell says Mercedes has “loads of things” like DAS on their car, while McLaren’s Lando Norris thought he was “seeing things” when he first saw DAS in action.
Ever since Mercedes revealed their Dual Axis Steering system, the media as well as other teams have been discussing the impressive innovation. Mercedes’ junior driver George Russell says the system is “just the tip of the iceberg”.
“I’ve been part of that team for a long time,” said Russell on day 1 of the second pre-season test.
“I saw what they were up to prior to when I joined Williams and it’s incredible the things those guys are doing. They’ve got loads of things in the car just like that but we can’t see to the naked eye.
“So when I saw it I was like, wow, you guys are making us all look a bit silly at the moment. It’s incredible and I think they’ll be unstoppable this year.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris had a fun recollection of how he found out about the DAS system.
“I noticed it in the morning I was in the car at the time,” Norris said.
“It came up on the TV and I was really confused. I saw it, but I didn’t want to sound like I was an idiot and say to the engineers ‘guys, I think they got something weird going on in the steering wheel’.
“I thought I must be seeing things. So I didn’t say it initially, I just said, ‘I want to come look at this later’. So I told them to put a little mark on the video.
“Then I jumped out the car a few hours later everyone was like ‘Oh my God, have you seen this Mercedes steering wheel it’s moving…’. And I knew it, I wasn’t seeing things.”
The Briton also praised Mercedes’ ability to come up with “such awesome ideas”.
“I think we’ve missed a bit of that in Formula 1. I remember growing up when I was watching it, people coming up with the F duct and so many cool ideas and radical designs and things which get people talking.
“And over the last however many years you haven’t seen so much of that. Now they’ve come up with something like this, it’s awesome to see it.”
Norris added he thinks the DAS system must feel “weird” for drivers.
“It’s just so abnormal. It’s something that is giving you a feedback. Your steering wheel is one of the most important things for a driver to give you the right feedback and how the car is feeling and everything.
“So when there’s pretty much like a third movement, you turn left to right, but if it’s going backwards and forwards as well, then it’s just messing with your brain and everything feels way.
“But obviously, it’s not a problem, it’s not like it’s moving while driving, they’re setting it into a position while driving so it won’t be as weird, but it’s still not going to feel normal,” concluded the Briton.
