Mattia Binotto, Ferrari Team Principal, revealed that Ferrai had also considered the development of a similar system to Mercedes’ Dua Axis Steering.
The DAS has been widely observed and discussed after the first day of pre-season testing.
Mercedes’ DAS system enables its drivers to control the toe angle of front wheels by adjusting the steering. The push and pull phenomena helps in maintaining the control.
However, as many were caught by surprise, Binotto was comfortable with it as the idea was not alien to Ferrari Formula 1 team.
“The DAS system is something considered in the past but we didn’t design and develop it,” he explained.
Ferrari dropped the idea because of the team’s concerns over the legality of its use.
Additionally, team was not confident whether the effort would pay off or not. There remained high probability, according to team, that it might not support the Ferrari’s car desing.
Binotto said: “We believed it [would] not work well at least for our car and for our car concept.
“The team has not yet ruled out the possibility of developing its own version of the system this year. “We are looking at what the others are doing,” added Binotto. “At the moment [it’s] really a question mark, not sure we’ll develop it.”
Binotto was unable to chalk out any specific technical opinion regarding the DAS System. He did not have in depth knowledge of its competitor system which could be supported by hydraulics or an hybrid system with electronics in place.
Moreover, while answering to the questions regarding the legality of the team, he could not state clearly whether the system complied with FIA provisions or not.
“We really think it’s difficult for us to judge,” he said. “We don’t know the exact system. But I’m pretty sure FIA will made made the right judgment.”
