Revealed: Did Lewis Hamilton Use Mercedes’ DAS Back in 2018?

It turns out, Mercedes weren’t lying when they claimed DAS took over a year to develop. In a video that has surfaced online, Lewis Hamilton can be seen engaging something that resembles DAS from a pole lap in 2018. Furthermore, Mercedes chief designer John Owen recently disclosed that DAS had been first used a long time ago.

Did Mercedes use DAS back in 2018?

DAS stands for Dual Axis Steering and is a steering mechanism that changes the toe angle of the Mercedes car. When a driver pulls back on the steering column, the front wheels change from a. toe-out to toe-in formation. The innovation is effective particularly on long straights as it provides a marginal boost to top speed. Additionally, it aids in stopping the rear tires from overheating.

The World witnessed DAS in action for the first time in 2020 but it turns out Mercedes may have used it long ago. An eagle-eyed fan pointed out DAS allegedly being used by Hamilton during his pole lap at Hungary in 2018. @Luca_Flaminio picked up on Hamilton subtly pulling back on his steering wheel while hurtling down the main straight. It’s incredible to think Mercedes demoed the concept long before any team even imagined the innovation.

What was most surprising was Hamilton’s decision to use DAS while on a wet track with minimal grip.

This was most likely a prototype of DAS way back in 2018. It lines up with Owen’s statement regarding innovation. Speaking at Mercedes’ Deep Dive series, Owens said:

“And so the DAS system was born out of the ashes of something else, something that we tried, something we’d actually raced on the car a couple of years ago, that sort of worked but didn’t really deliver all the promise that we had in it.

“So that was sort of put to one side as something we tried and didn’t perhaps live up to our expectations.”

Sadly for Mercedes, they can only use DAS in 2020 ( if we get any racing this year). The FIA deemed DAS illegal and outlawed the innovation from 2021.

It would be a shame if we don’t get any racing in 2020. The true potential of Mercedes’ innovation remains an unknown in race trim and it’ll be interesting to see the drivers employ DAS while engaging in wheel to wheel battles.