Could this be why Hamilton pulled the steering wheel forward in Brazil?
Onboard footage from Lewis Hamilton's car in the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix seemed to show the seven-time World Champion moving the steering wheel forward and backwards as he headed down to turn one. Mercedes dismissed these claims as an "optical illusion or some play in the steering column" but what could be happening inside the W12?
The old DAS system
In 2020 pre-season testing, Mercedes sent a shockwave through the F1 paddock. Footage emerged of both Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas moving the steering wheel forwards and backwards. When this action was performed by the driver, the front two wheels pointed in and out. This allowed Mercedes to have better control over the tyre temperatures.
The whole Pirelli tyre could be heated more evenly. Mercedes worked with the FIA on developing the 'duel axis steering' system which took a number of years. It was deemed illegal but the technical regulations were changed in meaning they couldn't carry it over into the 2021 season. The example in Brazil is slightly different. The steering moved slightly as the Brit approached the braking zone.
GPblog spoke to Mercedes about the footage of Hamilton's steering wheel. Mercedes responded: "It’s either an optical illusion or some play in the steering column - which can happen as they age - and is not a desirable characteristic. The steering system is homologated since start of season so has been the same all year. Any further interpretation than this is, as previously mentioned, conspiracy theories." Click here for the full story.
Speed trap
The website Pitwalk highlights the difference in the speeds measured during the sprint race. Hamilton raced at 348km/h with his teammate at 308km/h. A difference of 40km/h. Meanwhile, the two Red Bull teammates were within 3km/h of each other which can be explained by the two drivers having a slightly different set-up. The Mercedes difference is too big to be explained by set-up alterations.
The German website suggests that the Mercedes car uses hydraulic shock absorbers, both on the sides and on the third element in the middle of the car, in the transmission. The hydraulics work via small valves in the dampers that let the hydraulic oil through in different volume flows. If you manage to influence the opening and closing times of these valves, you can virtually pull the dampers down. This allows the whole car to be lowered, reducing drag on the straights and increasing top speeds.
Mercedes were also strong on the straights in Turkey. Downforces is needed on Formula 1 cars for the corners but downforce brings drag. Whilst downforce is needed for the corners, you want to remove as much drag as possible for the straights. By flattening the ride height, the drag is reduced from the car. By reducing this drag, Mercedes can then use more rear wing which Christian Horner alluded to in Brazil. The Red Bull team boss said that Mercedes had a "Monaco rear wing" on their car and that was "impressive."
When lugging and even more so when braking, the dynamic axle load shift ensures that the rear end pushes upwards, just as in a road car when braking before traffic lights for example. This brings downforce back on the car where it is needed in corners. This trend can be reinforced by actively influencing the valves in the dampers. The same works when driving in a straight line. The airstream already pushes the car down when it gets caught in the rear wing. By influencing the dampers accordingly, you can ensure that the car drops even further and the rake is visibly lowered.
Is this illegal?
In Formula 1, it is illegal to have this system automated. Active suspensions are not allowed. Therefore, to make it legal in Formula 1, the driver himself needs to make a command. If Pitwalk is right and Mercedes really does have this on the car, Hamilton will need to actively do something and this could be the forward and backwards movement on the steering wheel.
It is suggested by the medium that Hamilton pulls the steering wheel towards him and therefore issues a command that is transmitted to the valves in the side shock absorbers of the rear axle. Hamilton pulls the steering wheel toward him during or just before braking. This causes the car to go back up in the rear. So the system is activated in the pressed state on the straights; the car then squats at the rear, and the air resistance is reduced. If the steering wheel is pulled, this manually deactivates the control of the damper hydraulics.
If Pitwalk's theory is correct, Red Bull will undoubtedly want to raise this with the FIA like they did with DAS. It'll be interesting to see what Red Bull say in response, and if this system will become part of the next debate with the FIA.
I was more sus on the fact that Lewis carried his steering wheel over to his team when hugging them after the race and the steering wheel goes out of sight, then he returns a steering wheel to the car. Closer inspection of the footage shows 1 of his team crew with holding something under a flag on the same side Hamilton was holding the wheel over the fence. Was the wheel changed? Is this a breach of parc ferme post race? Think there is more to this story...
I know facts get in the way of a good outrage. But... He was not fastest at the finish line. And only a few kmh faster than Mazepin at the trap. https://f1i-com.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/AW/s/f1i.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Interlagos-speed-trap.v1.jpg
Circumvent the rules, using loopholes, in case Mercedes keeps this up, F1 will have lawyers & Stewards & Masi will need to report to a judge; ridiculous. Mercedes cheaters, sore losers.
MB is not altering the suspension (which would be legal if not automatic). They alter brake bias. Move it to the front when braking to nose dive the car. Perfectly legal. Moved it from a switch to fore/aft steering wheel movement. It is RB who has been getting special treatment: The rule changes favor high rake cars, the rake could not changed -Honda mid season engine mods -running Ham off the track -going off track and not entering by the proper path - intentionally taking Ham out in Italy RB is on the run and looking for excuses.
Haha...DAS 2.0 Mercedes is like the evil adversary from Scooby Doo trying to get away with grey line innovation but if it wasn't for those curious meddling kids aka Red Bull....LOL
If all innovations was declare illegal then why not FIA let them race with a bull cart? That would make sense?
can we have an article about the taped wings please. In the same spirit and motivation as the above article.
there are 2 things. 1: a car is not allowed to alter its suspension in any other way as the load put on it from driving the car 2: aerodinamics cannot in any way be altered so not to have active aerodynamics
sorry beetje druk in het hoofd vandaag. moet echt even de rust vinden
You missed this part: The MB system is independent of the mechanism the steers the car. It could be remove and steering is not affected. Furthermore, any variation of ride height caused by the suspension geometry’s kinematics must not exceed 2mm over the range of ±12°, measured between the principal axis of rotation of the front wheel and an X-plane. Compliance must be demonstrated using CAD with the vehicle at the legality ride height, using a rigid set- up wheel of spherical outer surface and diameter 710 mm with its centre point at [XW=0, YW=-178, ZW=0]. For the avoidance of doubt, fixed suspension kinematic geometries which affect the reaction of contact patch forces such as “anti-dive”, “anti-squat”, “anti-lift” are permissible.
What this means: The front is limited to 2 mm drop. But at a typical wheelbase this may be > 20 mm in the rear. Don't hate just because MB is smarter.
Another inflamotory article from gpblog to get the Red Bull hooligans aroused. Come on GP.... Give it a rest. This is old news.
Haven't you wondered why this place is a focal point for anti Lewis/Merc brigade? All other sites have a fair cross section..Post an anti Lewis/Merc comment on here and watch the likes... Its A) lack of moderation, allowing folk to show blatant bias/insults etc And B) The very nature of many articles/headlines.. Generally against Merc/Lewis. Suspect the site owner has shares in Red Bull.???
I'll take a big bucket op pop corn and sit this one out for a bit. But if true and deemed legal it is very obvious that Mercedes has deep pockets and FIA is in them.
Stevesyd, are you okay mate? Seems like you're off your meds again.
Don't blame honest lewie. He's just the puppet in the autopilot seat. The car? Need NASA to look into that one.
I'm like soh much quickerh than Max man. He was no match for me on the straights the way I pushed and pulled the steering was Senna like man. I'm like the greatest 8 time champion in the sport man. I like learned two words of Portuguese man just for this weekend took me like 4 hours to learn them man. I worked soooh soooh hard man I'm like Nico with all these languages I know man. If the crowd doesn't boo me this week man I'm going to wave the Qatari flag man it's going to be sooh sooh cool especially if I have a 30 km/h advantage on the straight man.
This sani sale add is making visiting this site on mobile an impossible task. @gpblog, get it together
Merc and Lulu this year have claimed RBR have illegal rear wings (which passed all the tests), illegal wheel guns, illegal tyre pressures, illegal pitstop procedures, illegal engine, illegal party modes. But a device that manually lifts and lower the height of the car and alters the aero of the car to give an enormous straight line advantage is some how legal and not in gross violation of the spirit of the regulations. Toto must be the most despicable figure in F1.
Let see how this turns out!!!!.....No driving skills needed..Just a Peanut...
Mercedes are innovative and pushing the envelope, isn't that engineering and keeping a competitive edge ?
Only if the changes are legal. If they are legal, why aren't we seeing the same speed gains by Bottas? Answer: because if the changes are illegal (or dodgy at best), Mercedes doesn't trust Bottas at this point.
40 (FOURTY) KP/H difference to BOTTAS. Let alone any other Merc-Engine driver That is not innovation... that is cheating. Cleary.
No way !!!!! It's brilliant innovation, pushing the boundaries of the possible to create the next generation of F1 cars on the grid. All the teams do it, often leapfrogging each other with developments which show in racing results. t's what F1 is all about.
RBR's rear wings that passed all the tests were banned, RBR's 2 second pitstops that passed all the tests were banned.
Exactly...but redbull now has to respond to this sudden shift in momentum
what a nonsense, red bull wing was correct, like the Mercedes front wing? never hear anything about that, everyone can see it go down when accelerate and up when breaking, but same like DAS last year was only allowed for 1 year! to give Mercedes the help they need
Grey area, it passed all the tests but it could move more than x. FIA could let it go this year since more teams used this or adjusted the test (which they never did for other things during a season). But then they should have also adjusted the test for the front wings, but that would mean the Mercedes front wing wouldn't pass the new test. So this (again) seems to be the FIA favoring Mercedes.
Inoovation is not innovation if it's illegal, that is faul play. And if this would be true then i wonder how many rules are broken. Here's a few :) 10.1.3 Any suspension system fitted to the rear wheels must be so arranged that its response results only from changes in load applied to the rear wheels. Hamilton changes the response results by this. 10.2.2 Any powered device which is capable of altering the configuration or affecting the performance of any part of any suspension system is forbidden. Human powered is also powered. 10.2.3 No adjustment may be made to any suspension system while the car is in motion. And this one is too obvious. Besides that, does anyone know if the car lowers every single lap? This is easy to check if you replay a race since turkey with the rear view camera on Hamilton's car. I can't check this, no F1 TV or anything. That would explain him being faster on some laps but not all. Then the FIA should disqualify the Mercedes car (and as someone noted this might only be on Hamilton's car since Bottas is leaving, makes sense) for every race where it was used.
I have a feeling Merc are going to remove this device from the car for Qatar and pretend it never existed. They might have got away for it if they weren't so greedy in Brazil.
as long as is legal - cheating has nothing to do with Innovation - they are smart not innovative what we have seen last WE is not possible w/o cheating
No this is cheating. This is a device operated by the driver to alter the aerodynamics.
You mean like DRS ? :) How do you answer this? "In Formula 1, it is illegal to have this system automated. Active suspensions are not allowed. Therefore, to make it legal in Formula 1, the driver himself needs to make a command." Your opinion that it is cheating is based on your want for it to be so, not on actual evidence or fact. It is innovative like DAS was. Stifling a rivals innovation seems to be the new name of the game with Red Bull around. Time will tell how this unfolds but you making such a determination is very rash and I don't think you're informed enough to claim cheating.
Is all speculation at this stage, but if true, teams work closely with the FIA on these developments to see if they can benefit F1 as a whole in matters of close racing or safety. RB will have their own version, but with a higher raked car, they can't get the same benefit of the straights as the Mercs. Why is LH so much faster than Bottas? Do you really need to ask? Combine a brilliant driver on a mission with a development that is probably only on LH's car at this stage and you have you answer.
They aren't going to give the secret, illegal DAS system to the driver that has been fired and going to a rival team next year?
DAS wasn't illegal. It was within the technical regs. Red Bull whinged and the FIA said Merc couldn't use it in 2021. They stifled the innovation rather than have the costs involved for other teams to develop their own versions. How was it secret? Firstly it's not the nature to go blabbing to your rival teams about the aces up your sleeve. Secondly, the steering wheel movement was clear to see on cameras that are fitted to all cars all the time. Why fit it to a place where it would be so easily picked up if they thought it was illegal. It wasn't illegal. If you're going to make claims, at least try to base them in truth.
Be that as it may, nothing here counteracts what I said. DAS was allowed to remain for 2020 and that's all. Rather than have other teams spend more on their already tight budgets to develop their own DAS, it was easier just to stifle the innovation and scrap it. Otherwise it just widens the gap between the top teams.
DAS was already banned for the 2021 ruleset, the majority of which was postponed to 2022, before any 2021 cars were ever seen by the public. The rules for steering before were that movements of the steering wheel could only be used to steer the front wheels, the 2021 addition was that the only permitted steering wheel movement is rotation around the steering axis. This rule change was never planned to be pushed back to 2022, contrary to the majority of the new ruleset.
Lewis has always been faster than Bottas, but that difference has been 0.2 seconds per lap. Lewis took a fresh ICE in Brazil, which is worth around 0.2 seconds at the most (since his previous ICE was only used for 3 races: turkey, COTA, Mexico). And yet, in Brazil Lewis was somehow so much faster than Bottas, way more than 0.4 seconds. Where did that extra speed come from?
Where are you getting these 0.2s numbers from? Remember also that we had a safety car in Brazil which bunched up the field. Also after lap 20, Lewis was 2nd and he was only gaining on Max by a few tenths. Max was even 0.2s faster than Lewis on one lap when Lewis was still catching up to Max. Lewis also benefited from his later pitstop as the undercut wasn't that powerful in Brazil. After Max pushed Lewis off the track again, it took 11 more laps before Lewis overtook him. The difference in performance, all things considered isn't that surprising.
So you already know it's cheating even before a protest is lodged? Who are you again?
Exactly! All these salty max fans are all of a sudden f1 experts! Oh please!
As per usual :) Seems the sheep (won't call him goat :P ) can only win when Merc is cheating... 40 (in words: FOURTY!) KP/H difference to his teammate. I mean... COME ON!!
He was only 4 faster than Mazepin. F-O-U-R Bottas was slower because they were conserving his engine.
Watching the race, Lewis was clocked at 320 with DRS open. Where they get 340 plus from I can't imagine. I prefer to see data than believe the media. There was another speed trap recording that clocked Lewis at 318kph and Tsunoda at 319kph. Where is your proof of Mercedes cheating and why should I be convinced of your claim ?
So Lewis was cheating at Mclaren too in 2008? Salty hater spotted! Lewis was smashing the competition in a go kart but y’all too salty to recognize greatness! Even if Max wins this championship he will NEVER have the impact that Lewis has on this sport or EVER be a legend. Max will simply be another name in F1.
Is that some derivation of the 'n' word? Of course it is. Racist. Talk like an adult! As Lewis or Mercedes haven't cheated, that statement of yours makes no sense.
To you, lewis is a POS anyway. This dumb story just suits your narrative about him. Any reason to be hateful! How sad..
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