F1'S LAST PROPER INNOVATION? The Story of the Mercedes DAS System (2020)

[@bloodspatteredguitar]

The thing that really annoyed me about this being banned was that it was an opportunity to demonstrate driver skill to an insane degree. By banning it so quickly Mercedes were only able to extract a year of efficient tyre temperature control by switching between two toe angles by using only the extremes. Give them a couple more years and the drivers would have multiple toe angles they would aim for at different points around the lap. Give it a decade and analogue 3D steering becomes an essential skill of the top level of motorsport. Imagine the tricks an Alonso could pull with this as he carefully eliminates tyre overheating as he approaches the car in front and seamlessly switches to aggressive angles to maintain tyre temperature the moment he is in front and wants to pull away. But instead the technical tricks remain hidden behind steering wheel buttons and knobs that most people never notice.

[@HarrisonCoe]

Go to mode 15:Dash4-appendix 52-665 for an extra 3hp.

[@BobbyGeneric145]

Just more gadgetry that gets in between the driver and the competition.

[@AidanMillward]

Mercedes was trying to have the system rigged so Valtteri and Lewis could dial in the exact amount per corner. It was going to be way more advanced than it already was.

[@christiansimmons630]

@@BobbyGeneric145 but on that basis where do you draw the line? DRS, ERS, the aero? Is slick tyres too much?

[@BobbyGeneric145]

@@christiansimmons630 im not a fan of drs or ers... Nor am I a fan of the ability to change so much of the car on the wheel. The fact that drivers are making dozens of settings changes per lap is just overboard. Wheres the line? Well, some common sense aids one in locating it. We could be stupid and say "oh the engine keeps it from being all about the driver" or we could have some common sense and say that things like slicks and aero are essential to the type of car. I know this season and its 7 winners defeats my argument, but racing was much more exciting when the cars weren't as high tech.

[@azapro911]

Passed legality tests time after time, failed the 'Horner doesn't like it' part of the regulations.

[@JohnSmithShields]

Consulting the FIA all the way through helps with legality.

[@christiansimmons630]

@@JohnSmithShieldsthat’s the point really isn’t it? The FIA about it and said it was fine Then Horner spat his dummy out

[@srthebox4946]

It really isn’t just a Horner thing though is it, if any remotely big team dislikes an innovation of another rival, chances are its gonna get banned soon, Ferrari probably being the most well known example.

[@JohnSmithShields]

@@christiansimmons630 he has done worse things. Allegedly.

[@christiansimmons630]

@@JohnSmithShields can’t argue with that 😂

[@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT]

I remember seeing the DAS stuff on the onboard when there were explanation videos about it, and honestly, that is one of the most creative things I’ve seen in F1 nowadays.

[@anthonygibbo1881]

F duct rivals it for one of the coolest and it looked sick on the mclaren with the little snorkel and all.

[@thomasnieswandt8805]

The problem is todays mindset. Everyone is complaining and crying if something seems "unfair" (not just F1, but general) Back in the days, F1 teams tried new stuff left, right and center, 6 wheels?, two front axles?, a w16 engine?, a f*ing turbine?, wings?, automatic gear box? etc. Yes some of the stuff was illegal, but most of the times the other teams looked at it and went like "Yh, we need our own version of this!" Today, EVERYTHING gets banned. DAS? "Oh yes its legal, we (the FIA) invented it, but dont bother, next year its illegal", Double Defusor "Illegal", F-Duct "Illegal" A front wind that is flexible to wind? "Illegal", Floor that covers dirty air infront of the tyres? "Dont worry, just cut that part, for next year"

[@inigomontyas7478]

Agreed! The mindset today reminds me very much of the line from the Movie "The Sting", shortly after our villain lost in his own crooked poker game... "What was I supposed to do? Accuse him of cheating better than ME?" It seems like every team wants to 'cheat' the others, but complains bitterly if/when someone ELSE comes up with a clever idea that they didn't.

[@Hempujonsito]

True, but also the monetary barrier of entry to the sport in the past was lower. The examples you give are mostly from a time when a couple of engineering lads could convince a small millionaire to throw a couple of millions into a race car and be part of f1 with that "small" cost. These days huge conglomerates spent dozens if not hundreds of millions to be part of the show and they want to protect their investment. They letting these kinds of advancements to be kept legal could easily mean they have to invest another 10 million dollars next year trying to be competitive.

[@natehaviland3244]

"This is camber, this is toe." Somehow, the funny arm movemens also explains caster, which is often the hardest for people to grasp. Well done, sir. 😆 🤣 😂

[@JohnSmithShields]

A career in marshaling planes awaits.

[@AidanMillward]

Wait til we get on to Ackerman

[@ATEC101]

@@AidanMillward Bump Steer is the final.

[@felixjones9198]

As a tractor driver, I understand castor quite well.

[@natehaviland3244]

@@felixjones9198 I always preferred valvoline.

[@NeedforMine1]

I think the suspension innovations that are absurdly strong (like interlinked hydraulics and G-force affected brake link valve) go unnoticed bc of how invisible they are. F-Duct and DAS were very visible, blown diffusers were very audible. But those hidden innovations don't get many eyes on them due to how silent they are. RB's brake line valve producing asymetric braking forces and basically eliminating understeer is a crazy innovation but there was nothing visible or audible about it, so it went unnoticed.

[@kwan3560]

Loving it that back then Max fans got their panties all twisted up, calling it illegal, ignoring the fact that Mercedes had worked WITH the FIA to develop the system to make it fully legal.

[@AidanMillward]

And are now quiet about this asymmetric brake thing. 😅

[@ronmastrio2798]

Loving it now how the Mercedes fans are convinced that the FIA hates them when they essentially let Mercedes cheat for 8 years.

[@skahnk6550]

@@ronmastrio2798 explain this take 😂 what was illegal about the car up until das?

[@nicedeer1]

@@AidanMillward ​ The big difference is that they changed the rules in the middle of the season now, while they allowed Mercedes to use DAS until the end of that season. The same thing happened with pit stop regulations 2021. and "porpoising" regulations 2022. If anything, Max fans should not be quiet.

[@valerierodger]

⁠​⁠@@nicedeer1 the pitstop regulations addressed an issue that a number of teams had been pointing to for a number of years, and in 2022 Red Bull had one of the heaviest cars and kicked up a massive fuss to get the minimum weight increased, even though other teams had managed to get cars at or close to the minimum weight. Don’t even try to pretend that Red Bull is in some unique position when it comes to rule changes.

[@iamlato]

its hilarious you upload this almost exactly after rumours come out about red bull having a legally dubious brake system that caused max's dnf in australia

[@AidanMillward]

@@iamlato the rumours mentioned later in the video?

[@Jusuff]

And after Aidan did the Mclaren second brake pedal video two days ago

[@nobreadracing]

I think it’s so funny when people get mad their favorite team didn’t come up with something and instantly call cheating, But when it’s a team they like it’s an amazing and innovative.

[@guessundheit6494]

2020. Bring back the outer circuit at Bahrain, that was fun.

[@NHR_Music]

Would honestly be more exciting than Abu Dhabi as the season finale

[@mrreziik]

What should have been the first George Russell win but condemned us to watch Checo get absolutely destroyed in a Red Bull ever since

[@AidanMillward]

@@mrreziik yeah but they had to sabotage George to make Lewis look good smh my head imo.

[@huwgrossmith9555]

Can't sub 60 sec lap

[@guessundheit6494]

@@huwgrossmith9555 Easily solved: Add a U-shaped loop where the "endurance circuit was (running part of the "Oasis" circuit in reverse), quickly reconnecting to Turn 13, on the GP circuit. It would add 600 metres, and would add 6-10 seconds to lap times.

[@reggiejohnson6521]

The rear suspension on the W12 was an amazing innovation as well

[@joakimjeppsson1443]

The diffuser stall wasn't new, Mercedes managed to find a way to get the most out of it though

[@reggiejohnson6521]

@@joakimjeppsson1443 I agree

[@adem1781]

You have gotten so much better at this Aidan, I've watched for a number of years but from presentation to not having rock music in the background 🤣 Honestly well done. Do miss the occasional Cozzeh reference 😅

[@adem1781]

Oh but opinions on DAS ? It was brilliant.

[@fredericktennant9151]

I was a big fan of the DAS system, anybody who race online and setup their own car will know how much of a piece of art that DAS system was.

[@PamelaContiGlass]

I miss the 70s and 80s. Take any race in the 70s and the variety of designs was incredible. Of course, they were also death traps. I followed F1, Rally, MotoGP and GT cars (With a dash of CanAm and F5000) and at some point I stopped putting up posters of drivers/ryders in my bedroom because they had a tendency to succumb to "unaliving syndrome". I remember putting up a signed poster of Pierpaolo Pasolini (perennial #2 behind Giacomo Agostini in MotoGP) only for the poor guy buying the farm at Monza along with Saarinen. I don't miss the weekly litany of drivers buying the farm, but I miss the innovation, variety and excitement of those days. For F1, I think less aero and fewer regulations would be good for the sport, as long as safety remains paramount. I'd like to see the cars relaying more on mechanical grip and sounding less like a lawnmower. Also, the current crop are way too big. They'll be smaller soon, but not by much. Enginewise, I'd leave the turbo and number of cylinders to the manufacturers, like it used to be. Otherwise F1 is going to be Indy, but much more expensive. I know it will never happen.

[@rickran1647]

The innovation fitted to arguably the best Formula 1 car ever made.

[@JohnSmithShields]

The FW14B has entered the chat, but definitely right up there.

[@StanceSantos]

@@JohnSmithShieldsthe FW15C was way better than the FW14B

[@BarbaricAvatar]

RB19 says hello.

[@rickran1647]

@@BarbaricAvatarregulation limits and cost cap says hello on that.

[@StanceSantos]

@@BarbaricAvatar RB19 wasn’t innovative or had any fancy gimmicks it was simply better. Like the F2004 or W07

[@bladeszx2]

Thanks!

[@dyingearth]

Red Bull got caught out for their inertia braking system,which allows for differential braking. This makes the tire preservation easy. After FIA told them to knock it off, their performance dropped.

[@km6832]

And now redbull got the last loop hole closed with their inertia based brake bias

[@Elizabeth-vh6il]

I love these out of the box ideas! To me (who started watching F1 in 1992, the era when active suspension, traction control, etc. were invented) innovations like these are an essential part of what makes F1 exciting, seeing the engineering teams trying to outcompete each other. The most recent one I remember was Aston Martin's clever little idea to get around the ban on rear wing end plates in 2022 but it didn't make a huge difference to the race results.

[@tuc-dh4df]

Horner always calls other teams innovations illegal, always!

[@theF1oracle]

As does ever other team principal. That's what they are supposed to do, stay on top

[@bupkus1682]

Very one eyed comment.

[@Don-Royall]

​@@theF1oraclelies Horner do this significantly.

[@Neil_BT]

Fantastic innovation - would have loved to have been in the meeting where someone said, "wouldn't it be cool if..." and just listen to the conversation afterwards. The conception, and realisation of this idea is, to me, part of the soul of F1. Clever engineers not reading what the rules say, but reading what they don't say.

[@joakimjeppsson1443]

"I don't care about what anything was designed to do, I care about what it can do"

[@hainguyen136]

I think the one we just found these past couple of days - the tuned-mass device that use inertia to distribute braking power across the axle, thereby adding torque-vectoring by braking - on the Red Bull is simple but also genius. Not sure if the track down of such a device led to Red Bull losing so much pace, but if so it’s almost up there with DAS

[@howarddavies136]

Whoa, what's this? I've never heard of it.

[@Steve-jo3cl]

Isnt F1 supposed to be about innovating around the rules .... Hats off to Mercedes

[@IndaloMan]

@aidenmillward your content and delivery style are unique which makes your content very watchable. Do not change anything!!

[@Tacko14]

Everyone must be sick&tired of me repeating myself, but I was always under the impression that F1 was all about innovation. Mid engined cars, wings, carbonfibre, safety cells, you name it... Remember that antiballast thing Renault did to their suspension to make the car easy on kerbs? Brilliant. And soon banned. Some other ideas were nicked but perfected at least. F1 can afford more since the budgets are usually higher. Now? Nothing new is allowed unless it's prescribed by the FIA themselves. And the costcap, while defendable, makes anyone think twice about a gamble. You're not even allowed to test your idea if you have one. I liked that pioneering spirit a lot better than this 1999 Matrix mentality.

[@DDS029]

It has to be about competition also. I had zero interest in F1 when after qualifying, barring an engine failure, you knew how the race was going to end. Two brand A, then the brand B cars, followed by brand C, etc. That was usually pretty good bets for the season, after the first race set the pattern in motion... Not that it's much better now...

[@SufferingAddict88]

I say that every opportunity I get: Make the cost cap really restrictive and tightly monitored but make the technical regulations very open. I wanna see the team with the coolest ideas win while not just being able to put every idea ever on the car.

[@kdm6287]

As Dany Rick said at the time, hats off to them.

[@DjDolHaus86]

The issue with the DAS system for other teams in regards to the cost cap was that the nature of the mechanism requires more space in the nose/cockpit section of the car and if you look at the Merc of that era you notice it's much larger in this regard than a lot of the other cars (some were using a similar design philosophy but not all). If this feature had proven to be a massive advantage then it forces the other teams to dramatically redesign their nose to fit the system and if you dramatically redesign the nose of an aero dependant car, you have to redesign everything downstream of the change because the nose dictates airflow over the rest of the car. Basically, you're throwing your 2020 car in the bin and starting again but this time around you've got no budget left and you've lost the previous 4 years of tinkering that lead up to the 2020 car.

[@richardpurves]

5:19 This is without a doubt the funniest damn thing i've ever heard you say Aiden :) Well done :D

[@AlonsoRules]

Whoever came up with that is a genius

[@robertmcleod7679]

6:24 your pos/neg camber illustrations need to be mirrored for the other side of the car. nice video mate

[@chriscooks9850]

Awesome innovation. Its annoying when this type of thing gets banned (just because Horner moaned).

[@JohnSmithShields]

It made a change from Ferrari complaining.

[@chriscooks9850]

@@JohnSmithShields ha ha yeah good point!!

[@Calilasseia]

I wouldn't worry about failing the "nerd purity" test - even the relatively simple explanation you've provided reveals that this was a piece of engineering genius. I'm willing to bet Mercedes is thinking of how to translate this to road car usage, so that they can sell cars to the public on the basis of lower tyre wear and better grip. Which at first sight seems like an impossible achievement. After all, if you want to increase grip, you need to increase friction, and that inevitably means a side salad of increased wear. But if you can control how much friction you need by clever use of real time toe and camber angle changes, you can achieve that seemingly impossible combination. You set the car up for the lowest safe level of friction in a straight line, then increase the friction in a corner when sensors start ringing the first stage yellow alert with respect to grip. Have computers handle this, and just like dual clutch gearboxes, response times will be of the order of milliseconds. Mercedes is probably racking up a million or more miles of test track running putting together a usable road going version of this right now, and lining it up as yet another feature to add to a future S-class. Then percolate it down to the lesser models in the range, and watch other manufacturers scowl as they have to play catch up. Combine this with a 4 wheel steer setup and some other driver aids, and you have a car with some serious performance advantages with respect to avoiding catastrophe. If Mercedes IS doing this, you'll see it turn up in the press blurb when an all new S-class is being wheeled out. It might even go all the way to a full 3D analogue syeering system of the sort another commentator has already mentioned, controlling camber and toe in real time. Remember, Aidan gave you the Class 101 on this before it became another S-class bell and whistle.

[@minibus9]

Great video, I liked this system not only Because i am a Hamilton fan but also because I like innovation generally. I agree with you that this could be the last true single team innovation, unless somebody can do a McClaren and come up with something that costs very little but is very innovative and succesful

[@seasidescott]

seems like a concept that would be very useful for our normal cars (done by computer of course). It's not like it's difficult tech that requires special metals or anything. I especially like the ability to lower rolling resistance on straights.

[@andygreener3130]

Nobody liked Blitzkrieg but theres no denying it was clever

[@eamonahern7495]

You know what? Even though it helped Mercedes continue their dominance, I liked the innovation because without innovation we wouldn't have had the likes of the Cooper of Jack Brabham (changing where F1 engines are placed forever), Lotus 79 of Mario Andretti (not the first but the best Lotus ground effects car) or the legendary turbo cars of the 1980s, started by Renault and Jabouille in the 1970s. There should be more scope for innovation in f1 but only in a manner where the driver has to fully control it from the cockpit (if it isn't a structural part of the car) rather than the likes of the active williams cars of the early 1990s that offered the driver a helping hand, if you know what I mean.

[@timothyfalkowski6007]

the inside front wheel turns at a sharper angle when the tie-rod is in front of the axle, or the outside front wheel turns at a sharper angle if the tie-rod is behind the axle.

[@fabianrokkenbauch5550]

YEEEES was waiting for that one

[@BobbyGeneric145]

Ive often wondered how much "outsourcing" goes on.

[@alecerdmann8505]

Another thing I remember more recently that was clever, although I don't know if you'd call it an innovation and I don't remember it making a particularly large performance difference, is Aston Martin's rear wing upgrade in 2022. The wings are supposed to be one piece with no end plates to reduce both downforce and dirty air. Sometime in the middle of the season Aston Martin showed up with a rear wing that looked like it had end plates, but they had taken the wing piece, bent it straight up and then back around against itself and straight down. That rear wing component was still one piece, but now had a similar effect as having end plates. I just wrote this off the top of my head, so if there are any corrections to that explanation, have at it.

[@fallenshallrise]

I'm with the FIA on the wind tunnel and CFD limits and getting rid of unobtanium materials in the engine and getting rid of flexi wings and closing aero loopholes that let the teams create dirty air behind their cars and I'm with them on controlling speeds so that historic circuits don't need to be radically changed or removed from the calendar. BUT I'm not with them when they ban innovations that give the driver more ways to control the cars performance just because some other team doesn't like it. F-ducts, DAS, extra pedals, brake bias, adjustable dif, engine modes, manual energy deployment, etc. Why some of these are banned and some others are fully legal makes no sense to me. It's not logical that it's somehow too much for the driver to operate DAS but fine for them to be re-adjusting their brake bias in between every corner, what's the difference?

[@byronservies4043]

I miss DAS just because it was a cool innovation. Even the push/pull aspect, where you pull on the straights and push entering the corner, where the driver will be moved forward a bit anyway.

[@raykaufman7156]

Think about doing a memorial look at the career of Scott Bloomquist. If you're into racing innovations, he's your man. Gone too soon...😢

[@ernestwalk5430]

Just as you thought DAS was the last word we now learn that Red Bull had another trick up their sleeve…or perhaps out back. A truly clever brake fiddle. Sometimes I wish F1 would just settle on the number of road wheels and car dimensions x, y and z. Natural selection would decide what worked and what didn’t. After all, I’ve been told for many, many years that F1 was the pinnacle of motor racing. Maybe it should be allowed to prove it.

[@GoatTheGoat]

15:51 "Mind bottling"

[@bumblebity2902]

You said last great innovation. How about recently banned Red Bull brakes (brake valve inertia)?

[@corpsecoder_nw6746]

Funny thing is that Red Bull's g-sensitive differential braking system is now being reviewed...

[@AlbaHart]

I always thought the best way to describe what DAS did was "it allowed the drivers to turn the wheels in opposite directions at the same time", which is what they were doing on the straights. With toe out, there is a point where the outside tyre on a corner has a neutral toe angle, because that tyre becomes straighter before it begins actually turning into the direction the car is going in. What DAS allowed them to do was simultaneously steer each wheel towards the centre so they both hit that neutral toe point. This is why it was legal. It had absolutely zero direct input into any suspension elements, and didn't adjust the camber, which was the basis of the protests (and every complaint since by people who don't understand how cars work).It only did these things to the same degree and in the exact same way that any normal steering input would do, and so any argument you can come up with to ban it on those grounds also stops every race in the braking zone of turn one, as you can now only ever drive straight. And in order to ban it, a rule had to be written that specifically stated that a steering wheel can only turn the wheels by turning itself. Before DAS, it had never been necessary to state that a steering wheel can only be used in the way that everyone ever has ever used a steering wheel. Or that both wheels had to turn in the same direction at the same time. The meeting when it was proposed must have been great... "Got an idea lads. Instead of turning the steering wheel to go left or right, how about we move the steering wheel forwards and backwards as well? And get this, you'll love this bit, when we move it backwards, it turns the right wheel to the left, and the left wheel right, at the same time. What do you think?" "You been watching Saturday morning cartoons again Steve? We've told you before, Wacky Races isn't research!"

[@danielw.2884]

Mistake at 6:20, the blue and read line on the left side should be mirrored by the orange line.

[@danielw.2884]

At 7:30 the same small mistake can be found ;)

[@DeMichel93]

Mercedes dominated and yet they created DAS because FU everybody. I will respect them for that. They did not sat down and just rolled on the others.

[@chrisdavidson911]

Using it in testing as they did instead of doing runs in 1 constant setting and then comparing the data, made me think it was mostly a distraction like Gordon Murray's canister and tubes, "look at this look at this look at this!! No no, don't look at that, look at this!!" style

[@LewisSkinner]

Hey Aidan. I've had a quick look through your vids, but I can't find one on FRICS. Any chance you can make one?.🙂

[@Davivd2]

I saw this on the Netflix series. They portrayed this differently. It was edited in a way that nobody knew about it until the in car cam on the Mercedes saw it during a race, and that's how Christian Horner found out about it and filed a complaint after the race. It's good to learn the real story here. The response is typical Formula One. "You broke the rules this year. Don't do it again next year, and it's all good".

[@JohnSmithShields]

I loved the flex at the end of the season of Mercedes pretty much putting the plans online.

[@ondrejkratochvil4589]

My vote these days is the current RBR 'weighted valve in the rear brake splitter' - that is if that turns out to be true, as RBR is of course denying having sth. like that :D

[@kedelbach]

In the mid 90's while in college I was on an engineering team in New Jersey that built an electric car and competed against other schools. One of them (believe it was Western Washington) had built a solar electric car with 8 bicycle tires, double stacked at each corner. In curves all 8 would be in contact with the ground but on straights they could radically increase camber so only the inside wheels were touching, halving the rolling resistance. Don't remember how they accomplished this (surely some kind of purely mechanical system, like DAS) but I remember being deeping impressed with the concept. Similar idea to DAS, even if for different purposes.

[@collagen1738]

did you go to Rutgers?

[@kedelbach]

@@collagen1738 no Trenton State College

[@collagen1738]

@@kedelbach cool :) i live close by

[@themonsterman229]

Can you also do a video on Merc’s ‘party mode’ and just in general how teams used to use different modes between quali and the race!

[@joakimjeppsson1443]

Pretty much turn the ICE up to 11, deploy all the electrical energy available over a single lap, controlled by GPS. Strat 2 it was called

[@themonsterman229]

@@joakimjeppsson1443 true! I think it was well understood in the grid and media that Mercs mode was able to extract more than that from Ferrari, Renault or Honda. Maybe that is simply leaning on the higher reliability ceiling

[@icewhitegames6875]

Merc developed the system for years knowing that it would be banned the first season.

[@fathertimegaming17]

Seeking clarification: Were their minds blown, or were they boggled?

[@KrypticTMG]

I never understood how this was even legal because the rules have stated you are not allowed any moving aerodynamic parts but by changing the angle of the tires on the fly, effectively its toe in & toe out which does change drag slightly which will effect aero so i never understood how changing toe angles during a race is not classed as moveable aero part.

[@valerierodger]

Because they _weren’t_ allowed to change it during the race. If you paid attention to what was going on then, or if you paid attention to this video, you would know that they weren’t allowed to use it while the car was in motion. Where it really gave them an advantage was their ability to put heat in their tires during the formation lap. When they stopped in their grid spot, they would then return the tires to the normal setting for the race.

[@KrypticTMG]

@@valerierodger So if they wee not allowed to use it in the race why bother spend the money to make it just for it to be used on a formation lap only. We saw them using it numurous times in practice, so why use it in practice if it has no use during the race?

[@TrueMalys]

Wouldnt "Brake Magic" have been the last F1 Innovation? Im not sure for how long exactly Mercedes was actually running it but having an on-button brake heater sure helped them a lot (except when Luis forgot to turn it off at Baku).

[@jamie12O9]

No I think they've all had that for ages. All brake magic did was shift the breaks to 100% front to make it easier to gain front temp. I'd imagine everyone has already been doing that for a while

[@cameronwood1994]

I remember a radio communication to Michael Schumacher in Turkey (think it was 2010/2011) which said "magic paddle latched Michael", so it must be at least 10 years.

[@valerierodger]

I’m pretty certain Hamilton and Mercedes would have won the championships that year regardless; I think it likely only made a difference in the standings in a few races. It also probably made a bigger difference for Bottas because he was not as good as Hamilton when it came to bringing tires into the necessary temperature window and keeping them there. Had they been able to keep it, it might have made it far more significant difference in a close title race. What really impressed me is that they had the best car and rather than just being complacent and focusing only on what incremental gains there might still be to gain from the design, they looked at what had been a glaring weakness of the car and figured out an innovative way to address it within the regs.

[@fredherfst8148]

F1 is an international engineering science fair… The drivers and races are cool, but the engineering fascinates me.

[@P1Bulletin]

What do you thing about Mclaren's Mini DRS?

[@dyslexofficial2798]

Dear Editor Aidan, The red and blue lines on the right side of the screen are backwards... lol

[@vaclav_fejt]

Mercedes: DAS auto.

[@umi3017]

More like DAS manual.

[@vaclav_fejt]

@@umi3017 It's a car, not a handbook.

[@321-Gone]

It’d be cool if F1 had a partial regulation freeze every 5 years or so. Like blown diffusers, active aero and suspension, power output, etc…. Just keep safety.

[@LWilloxMusic]

I hold hope despite the very restrictive rules now that it is still the latest great innovation and not the last…

[@Slider5320]

Hi Aidan Love watching your show. Is there a way you send you information please? I would like to send you a link for something you may wish to cover on one of your episodes?

[@MyMintus]

RB stifle innovation unless it's them. I fully blame the FIA; Mercedes did this in full view of them and deemed it legal, yet later not.

[@valerierodger]

They never deemed it illegal. They just changed the regulations for the following year so that Mercedes couldn’t use it anymore.

[@punkavatarworld2]

Double diffusers were an Innovation because every team needed and got one. Who else ran a das system? nobody? That's just an invention.

[@valerierodger]

Nobody else ran a DAS system because it would’ve been far too time-consuming and expensive for them to create their own - it was banned in no small part so that other teams didn’t have to spend the money doing so.

[@punkavatarworld2]

@@valerierodger yeah all I'm saying is if an invention goes on to be adopted the majority, that's an innovation,DAS was a banned invention, not an innovation.

[@rekonizakilamilkshake8421]

FRIC suspension is the one which annoys me. It was so innovative.

[@harryspeakup8452]

That annoys me too. It's something that was a genuine improvement in how cars work, not a trick or a stunt

[@Pembolog]

No, RBR's brake system that got banned today there will ALWAYS be creative interpretations in the rules for as long as F1 is profitable

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

I love innovations that are - technically or completely - legal. Just because it's going to cost other teams to develop their own system - whatever it is - well, tough! It's cost the developing team a bunch of time as well as cash, not even knowing if it will work as conceived. The other teams now know the answer to the latter point. F1 is supposed to be a prototype series, not a spec one. It's supposed to be the pinnacle of engineering, let alone the driving. The F duct basically got banned because Ferrari couldn't come up with a system that didn't require the driver to go around a corner one-handed, whereas the original system only required a knee. Ferrari's system should have been banned on safety grounds. As that was before cost cap time, the expense of adding it to the car should have been irrelevant *_as part of the reason to ban_* the legal and incredibly simple "device" (in quotes because I'm not sure if it can even be classified as a device.) The same applies to DAS. The FIA had given the okay for Merc to use it from before they started to build it! Banning it after one year is, IMHO, a pile of steaming 💩 They should have told the other teams to suck it up and decide whether to create their own system for the next year, pointed out all the relevant rules regarding its legality (though the teams should be able to read the rule book) and add it to the following year's car. I feel this way that about any legal design, especially when the FIA have given them the green light. 😠 Obviously, if a team is doing something illegal, they should get punished one way or another. But I hate seeing them punished for being innovative with the rule book! (In case anyone thinks I only feel this for certain teams, no, I feel the same way about all such developments and lousy FIA decisions.)

[@RubyRoks]

It'd probably be more complicated than I expect to find this out, but when was the last time a mid or back-of grid team came up with an innovation like this. My assumption is the blown diffuser, but i'm curious because I'm really hoping either Haas, Alpine, AudiSauber, or Williams will be able to pull something crazy like this out of their collective asses for 2025 and/or 2026 and become competitive

[@GameKanaal37]

I never got why it got through the FIA tests.. because DAS changes the Toe of the front wheels.. and last time i checked.. toe falls under parc ferme and is not allowed to be changed after free practice entering qualifying..

[@GameKanaal37]

I think the other teams did think of this.. i genuinly think a lot of other teams in the past has thought of something like DAS.. but never bothered to do so because it changes something that is under parc ferme regulations...

[@valerierodger]

To be specific, adjusting the _suspension_ (in this case, adjusting toe angle by adjusting the length of the tie) is not allowed in parc ferme. DAS operated strictly as part of the steering system. to the extent it changed the suspension, it did so no more than any other steering input. From the decision itself: "The Stewards believe DAS is part of the Steering system, albeit not a conventional one. Article 34.6 of the Sporting Regulations: this forbids an adjustment of suspension in parc fermé. […] It is, for example, not permitted to adjust the toe angle by mechanically adjusting the length of the steering arms during parc fermé. Clearly (again) steering is a de facto exception [...] the Stewards consider DAS to be a legitimate part of the steering system and hence to satisfy the relevant regulations regarding suspension or aerodynamic influence. In the opinion of the Stewards, the DAS system is physically and functionally a part of the steering system. As such, it benefits of the implicit exceptions to certain suspension regulations applicable to steering."

[@alexisborden3191]

I think the fiddle brake and DAS are both kind of over stated about how effective they are. 2way adjustible front toe is a pretty minor thing all things considered, and if the fiddle brake was such auto-win cheese, why was McLaren where they were in 97, surely they'd have had more than 3 wins, and some wouldn't have been handed to them. And they were still good after it was banned in 98. I think they're neat, but I also think people give each item a little more credit than they deserve.

[@Tacko14]

In a way, I'm glad DAS didn't become a thing. No buttons left on my wheel, and I'm no good at that brain overcapacity thing anyway. Harvesting, deploying, DRS, maybe overtake button, DAS... Sometimes we hear about adjusting diff settings or brake balance while racing, and I just go Kimi: let me be! I'm just an average male, I can't multitask. I have trouble doing one thing at a time. James Hunt could just say Big Balls and leave it at that. Nowadays you need a NASA degree.

[@ryanjonathanmartin3933]

Kimi was actually open to adjusting settings on the fly: he likes to set the brake bias very far to the rear to increase rotation on entry. For the same reason he likes the differential to remain unlocked for most of the corner, also so that he can get on the throttle early.

[@BlueJazzBoyNZ]

Sounds like the Red Bull Brake bias valve (reportedly now banned) may be the Jam. 22 2023 ! 24 Lewis says Yay..

[@alaeriia01]

At this point, with the cost cap, the FIA should just let all of those old innovations be allowed again. F1 is basically a spec series at this point, and I'm having much more fun watching the WEC.

[@valerierodger]

F1 is nowhere near a spec series, and this is the best season we’ve had for years

[@chippandan6577]

Top man

[@theF1oracle]

I'd have to agree with you that i miss genius innovations, but it's not good 'for the show' if one teams has a massive advantage. & since the new cost cap era is upon us, teams can't spend like crazy anymore to catch up 🤷‍♂️

[@semjonignatov1340]

Car go brrr 😂😂😂 5:30

[@billmcdonald4335]

I remember back in the day, when everyone was guessing, being shouted at by guessing it was a toe trick; everyone else in that convo was convinced it was camber. That made no sense to me. Glad to see my hunch was correct.

[@mono-no-aware.Lem.]

I want a series where the only limit is having a car that passes safety standards. Other than that I wanna see something with every cheat and innovation of the last 50 years all in one monster machine. I guess limit top speed to idk 240mph or so haha

[@ZombieDeMierda]

Just imagine : Active suspension, TC, CVT , active aero , DAS , blown diffuser, double diffuser, ABS , TCS

[@DDS029]

That was Can-Am...

[@F1Guy-Guy]

The main problem for F1 and all of our favourite drivers is still that same problem called Hamilton for driving annoying us again with his hammer time

[@andrewstorm8240]

Err Redbull brake system this year is the latest innovation

[@optyfen5276]

Das Auto. Sorry wrong German car manufacturer.

[@Goldie644]

Sadly the FIA are seemingly intent on stamping out innovation in F1 with their overly prescriptive rules 😥

[@ashooaway]

Das a good video

[@AidanMillward]

@@ashooaway the raw file was exported as “DAS ist Gut Ja”

[@TerribleFire]

DAS was completely legal. Its just turning the wheels in a different way

[@Darren-g2e]

The fact the FIA stamp out any innovative thinking is a big part of the reason the sport has become lacklustre.

[@LuminalSpoon]

It's been going on for 50 years, the FIA banning innovations isn't new

[@Ticklestein]

Up to now. It’s the last great innovation in F1; up to now.

[@gordonwallin2368]

Cool, thanks Aidan. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

[@BarbaricAvatar]

The trouble with F1's innovations is that they usually have no real-world application outside of F1. Which is probably why the regulations are so tight now; there's less opportunity for people to come up with stupid single-use ideas that cost a lot of money and don't work unless a car is experiencing 3G at the time. I can understand why the regulations are so tight on this but I still think it's an error to force everyone to use the same engines and mechanical components as those are areas where new ideas could benefit other businesses, even if only other motorsports. F1 hasn't been relevant to anyone outside of F1 for a long time; I don't see that changing any time soon and eventually the rest of the world is going to ask the question: What's the point?

[@valerierodger]

The new regulations are increasingly relevant - that was a major motivation for them - which is why there have been manufacturers interested in returning to F1.

[@landiahillfarm6590]

Well put. For my 50+ years of following F1 in one form or another, the one thing that kept me coming back year after year was to see the technical innovations, and you are spot on that the FIA have done everything to stifle that. Yes, somethings needed stifling for safety reasons, and banning traction control, ABS, hydraulic suspensions, etc were all good ideas otherwise we'd be watching remote controlled cars running around with just a passenger not even touching the wheel. But it's gotten to the point where it's lost it's luster. It's becoming... dare I say it... INDYCAR racing... just a lot more expensive. Opening up the rules a little I think would be good for the sport.

[@CarimboHanky]

mmm seem like brakes trickery and adrian newey goes hand in hand 🤣

[@AidanMillward]

@@CarimboHanky Newey had nothing to do with the other brake trick though.

[@Ramtamtama]

One thing about the way F1 operates is that things get banned for the following season. Personally, I think they should be banned for the season after next at the earliest UNLESS there's a safety issue.

[@humanbeing9079]

With regards to outwash, it was baffling that the FIA kept the width of the front wings in the first place, reaching the outer edge of the wheels. Of course teams would focus on generating more outwash as they had done since 2009. The ratio of potential performance generated inwash vs outwash decreases as width increases, and the scale was firmly tipped towards outwash since 2009. Decrease the width to the point where inwash can generate more potential performance than outwashand the teams would all switch to+develop inwash. The FIA guaranteed development against the "spirit of the rules", and now the only solution is to make the teams scrap all that development which is both bad for the show and bad for the tech. Absolute backwards thinking.