Formula 1 Emilia Romagna GP

Bottas unsure DAS would have solved Imola F1 tyre struggles

Valtteri Bottas is unsure Mercedes’ innovative dual-axis steering (DAS) device that was banned for 2021 would have solved his Formula 1 tyre struggles at Imola two weeks ago.

Luke Smith

Published: Apr 30, 2021, 9:34 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12

Bottas topped both practice sessions on Friday for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and said he felt “a lot happier” with the Mercedes W12 car than he did at the opening round in Bahrain.

But Friday proved to be the peak of the Finn’s Imola weekend as he slumped to eighth place in qualifying, while teammate Lewis Hamilton took pole position, finishing over four-tenths of a second ahead.

Bottas fared little better on Sunday in the race, struggling in the lower-reaches of the top-10 before a crash with Williams’ George Russell brought his race to an early end.

Bottas and Mercedes came away from the Imola weekend citing tyre warm-up issues as being the key to his struggles, causing such a big performance swing compared to Hamilton in the sister car.

Mercedes used DAS through 2020 to allow its drivers to adjust the toe angle of the front tyres from inside the cockpit, assisting with tyre warm-up.

But Bottas did not think the now-banned device would have resolved his issues at Imola, which chiefly surrounded the rear tyres.

“I would say at Imola, the struggles in qualifying, now once we understood everything, it was 100% tyres,” Bottas said.

“My Q1 time would have been enough for the second row in Q3, and I ended up eighth. So it’s an area that we need to pay more attention to. We understand, but it also goes track by track.

“With the DAS, for sure it was helpful on that, but at Imola, the main issue for me was rear tyres, getting them warm instead of the fronts.

“The DAS system was only for the fronts. I’m sure last year we had some benefits for that, but not necessarily for Imola.”

Read Also:

Mercedes sparked intrigue throughout the paddock when it debuted DAS at pre-season testing in 2020, with the regulations already being written to ban the device for 2021.

Red Bull lodged a protest against Mercedes over the use of the device at the opening race in Austria, only for the FIA to rule it as being legal and within the regulations.

Mercedes heads into this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix braced once again for a close fight with Red Bull, the teams having won one race each so far this year.

Bottas felt that it was “impossible to say” how competitive Mercedes would be compared to Red Bull at Portimao given the swings in track characteristics between Bahrain and Imola.

“We’ve raced on two very different tracks,” Bottas said.

“Bahrain is quite unique in terms of the surface of the tarmac and the overheating issues you get normally, and Imola also completely different, really smooth tarmac and the conditions we had were pretty cold.

“Here, [there are] many question marks in terms of the tarmac. I think it’s evolved quite a bit since last year. You just don’t know.

“The only thing we’ve focused on as a team was first of all getting my car fixed [after the crash], and putting some upgrades in the car and see how it works.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article "Flat out" sprint races a thrill for drivers, says Leclerc

Next article Can Gasly finally fulfil AlphaTauri qualifying promise?

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Jorge Martin declared fit to race in Malaysian GP after FP1

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Malaysian GP

1 h

Jorge Martin declared fit to race in Malaysian GP after FP1

Cetilar unveils blue Ferrari 499P ahead of Hypercar debut

Asian Le Mans

AsLM Asian Le Mans 4 h

Cetilar unveils blue Ferrari 499P ahead of Hypercar debut

2026 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Malaysian GP

5 h

2026 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more

"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

6 h

"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes

Feature

Discover prime content

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

How Verstappen and Antonelli were both “surprised” in United States GP qualifying

Formula 1

United States GP

By Stuart Codling

How Verstappen and Antonelli were both “surprised” in United States GP qualifying

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 United States GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 United States GP

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts