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Horner Believes DAS Saved Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes from Tire Woes During the Eifel GP

Published 10/12/2020, 7:57 AM EDT

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via Reuters

Following his win at the Eifel Grand Prix, Mercedes’ point man, Lewis Hamilton, showered Red Bull and especially Max Verstappen with generous praise.

And rightly so, as Verstappen was the only driver who could manage to keep up with the 6-time World Champion at the Nurburgring once Bottas was out due to a loss in power.

The impressive Dutchman finished the race in P2, only 4.5 seconds behind Hamilton. However, Verstappen had a sliver of an opportunity to perhaps win the race during the late safety car period.

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But that chance slipped away as quickly as it came when Hamilton simply zoomed off when the green flag was waved. It was quite alarming to see Hamilton put up such a gap between himself and Verstappen right after the restart.

One would think Max was caught out cold, but Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes Hamilton and Mercedes had the DAS system to thank.

After the race, Horner said (translated by Google), “The safety car waited until the field caught up. It was very slow on the way. The tire temperature became a problem. And because of the DAS system, Mercedes can perhaps handle it better than us.”

The DAS system Horner is referring to reportedly helps the Mercedes drivers to change the angle of their front axle, causing the tires to heat up far more evenly, and based on that evidence, it certainly worked like a charm.

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Horner said, “Overall, it was a strong weekend. That is definitely encouraging, especially since there were sections where we were equal to or even faster than Mercedes.”

The performance in Germany makes the Team Principal of the Milton Keynes-based outfit confident that they’ll be able to end the season with a bang. Although, a championship maybe be out of the realms of possibility.

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via Reuters

He said, “There are still a few more races to come this year. These are all tracks that should be quite interesting for us. We want to end the season on a high.”

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Red Bull have only won one race in the calendar year so far- the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. Another win would be much appreciated by the team to see off the season, as they plan to mount a better title challenge in 2021.

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Written by:

Ronan Carvalho

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Ronan Carvalho is senior F1 author for Essentiallysports. Ronan is currently pursuing his Journalism degree from St. Xavier's College.
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