Hamilton praises Merc innovation with the DAS

Lewis Hamilton has praised Mercedes for its “innovation”, insisting DAS is not a distraction or safety concern.

The British racer, who is chasing a seventh Drivers’ Championship title this season, debuted Mercedes’ DAS, dual action steering, during Thursday’s testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

The dual axis steering means Hamilton could control the toe of his W11’s wheels by pushing or pulling on his steering wheel.

The system is thought to help with tyre wear, cornering and act as a drag reduction on the straights.

Mercedes are “pretty confident” that it is legal having spoken with the FIA about it.

As for Hamilton’s thoughts, it was a first outing with DAS for him and he is praised Mercedes for its innovation.

This is utterly clever from Mercedes. Imagine you come back from the winterstop and the team tells you they’ve thought of a new thing and come up with this… makes you pumped up for the new season. pic.twitter.com/1jd0RIwqYz

— Giedo van der Garde (@GvanderGarde) February 20, 2020

“We’re just trying to get on top of it and trying to understand it.

“But safety wise, it was no problem today.

“The FIA have OK’ed the project.

“For me it’s really encouraging to see that my team continues to innovate, and stay ahead of the game.

“I think that’s just down to the creative minds we have in the team so hopefully it will work.”

Asked if DAS had been a distraction, he replied: “None.”

Hamilton covered 106 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday morning, finishing a second behind pace-setter Sergio Perez.

His team-mate Valtteri Bottas has his first taste of DAS in the afternoon session.

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