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Mercedes F1 flexy steering wheel/column

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John S:
Big story from this mornings running at F1 testing in Spain is a trick steering wheel/column on the Mercedes car in the hands of Lewis Hamilton.

Under heavy braking commentators have spotted movement of the wheel/column and have been speculating as to what could be happening. General consensus seems to be that it may be an improved version of the dipping front wing trick that is suspension led and enhances the inside height in corners. Merc pioneered this but many teams now run front suspension cornering enhancement.

Merc when questioned on the movable steering offered no response, however a radio message to Lewis shortly after team was door stepped asked driver to cease testing steering.

Now is this a movable aero device, is it a real breakthrough for performance - or is it one of those red herrings offered up by teams during testing to throw us off the track of real advances?   :DntKnw: 

cosworth151:
Here's an interesting idea. Moving the steering wheel in and out to move the rack in and out and increase/decrease the toe-in angle on the front wheels. It would not only change the wing angle, but would also decrease tire drag on the straights:

lkjohnson1950:
The FIA issued a preliminary ruling that the Merc steering is legal. Of course no one has protested as yet, and the FIA has not fully investigated anything. For their part Merc says they have no doubts that it is legal even though they are not saying exactly what it is or does.

Andy B:
Merc have obviously spent time, effort and money on this including discussions with the FIA so they are pretty confident of its legality.
From what I have read its changing the toe out to toe in or at least making it neutral the biggest benefit is tyre wear and temperature which we are all aware that Mercs have struggled at times with.
F1 innovation!
Love it.  :yahoo:

lkjohnson1950:
Bottas says Merc have been working on it since early last year. He expects it will help on some tracks but maybe not all of them. Latest rumor has the FIA banning it for 2021.

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