FIA reject Red Bull protest over controversial Mercedes steering system as F1 season begins with almighty row

Even in a strange alternate universe of nasal swab tests and colour-coded face masks, Formula One proved on Friday that old habits died hard, as a Mercedes one-two on track was soon followed by an almighty row about a steering wheel.

For all that F1’s belated return in Austria counts as its oddest incarnation yet, with strict Covid-19 protocols mandating that even interviews must be conducted through masks, there was an almost comforting familiarity about its first day back, culminating in a rancorous and highly technical rules dispute, ultimately resolved in Mercedes' favour.

The controversy is that Mercedes, in pursuit of a record seventh consecutive constructors’ title, have unveiled a cute conceit, which, to put it politely, pushes the envelope of legality. It is known as the dual-axis steering system, or “DAS” for short, and it works by drivers pushing the column forwards or back to adjust the toe-angle of the front wheels.

So far, so innovative. Except Red Bull, likely to be Mercedes’ leading challengers this year as Ferrari continue to flounder, believe that it constitutes an unfair advantage. They said as much, lodging a formal protest that forced the world champions to explain themselves and the scrutineers at the FIA, the sport’s regulators, to try to reach a ruling. Shortly before 1.00am Austrian time on Saturday, they did, throwing out Red Bull's complaint.

All along, Red Bull, disturbed by the Mercedes DAS masterstroke when it was first introduced during testing in February, had intended to wait for the season’s first practice session before officially objecting. That way, they reasoned, they could gauge their rivals’ true margin of superiority.

Sure enough, as the Silver Arrows took to the Spielberg circuit on Friday in an all-black base livery to signify their campaign for racial equality, the car in front was a Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton at least six-tenths of a second quicker than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in both the morning and afternoon sessions.

For Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, it was all the evidence required. He approved a protest citing an FIA regulation about undue aerodynamic influence, stating: “No adjustment may be made to any suspension system while the car is in motion.” After five hours of deliberation, the FIA decided no breach had been committed.

“We have a difference of opinion on the system,” said Horner, shortly before the protest was submitted. “Obviously, we’re keen to get clarity on that system, making sure that it’s addressed early and quickly in the weekend. Its primary performance isn’t to steer the car.

“There is a technical position where Mercedes will think one thing and our engineers will think something else, so the best way to address it is via a protest. This feels like the fairest time to do it.”

Wolff thought differently, suggesting that Red Bull were casting a shadow over a weekend when F1 is under pressure to deliver an immaculate spectacle. “It is the first race and, although it is fair enough to seek clarification on the other side, we don’t want to end up with a big debate.

“Controversy on engineering innovation has always been a part of F1. This has to be expected – it is part of the risk. We think we are on the right side, and that is the reason we have it on our car.”

Despite Mercedes’ sense of righteousness, the lines in this latest row are blurred. For a start, F1 has already vetoed DAS for the 2021 season, believing it to be a technological bridge too far. From next year, there will be a resolve within the sport to crack down hard on innovations that threaten to damage the competition. To Horner, DAS represents less a stroke of genius than the deft exploitation of a loophole.

Of course, the FIA had plenty of time to make this easier for everybody concerned. In the 3½ months since the aborted Australian Grand Prix, they could, knowing Red Bull’s grievances, have made a clear-cut ruling in time for the resumption in Austria. Instead, they have let the matter fester, setting the scene for a tense confrontation that detracts from the successes in putting on a global sport in the middle of a pandemic.

If only they had approached DAS with the same attention to detail that they have given to Covid-19. The Austrian paddock has been designed with military-grade bio-security, requiring 72-hourly testing for coronavirus and masks to be worn at all times, including when speaking at press conferences. The other powerful sub-plot is F1’s heightened racial awareness, with a “We Race As One” slogan branded on all 20 cars and chief executive Chase Carey donating more than £800,000 of his own money to fund a diversity task force.

Truly, F1 has done more to advance an equality agenda in the past fortnight than it had managed in the previous 30 years. Hamilton finally senses that genuine change, not the tokenistic kind, is within the sport’s grasp. To match his black car and black overalls, he showed off a bespoke helmet on Friday, decorated with the emblem of a clenched fist and the Black Lives Matter slogan. “We have the mic now, and people are starting to listen,” he said.

In a truncated season, likely to be confined largely to Europe due to the pandemic’s acceleration elsewhere, Hamilton is hunting the sporting immortality that would come from a seventh world title, moving him level with Michael Schumacher. Not even an old-fashioned rules ruckus, it seems, can slow him down.