Is Mercedes trying to outsmart the starting lights?

Not surprisingly, Mercedes has been the dominant Formula 1 team for the last seven years, as the innovation process continues at full steam despite its dominance. After the team of silver arrows surprised the competition before the season with the DAS steering system, apparently Mercedes is also paying a lot of attention to the red lights that indicate the start of the race.

According to former Formula 1 driver Robert Doornbos, Mercedes might be able to work on a system that would anticipate the moment the red lights go out. This could allow the Brackley team to gain the two tenths the driver otherwise needs to react to the lights off.

Doornbos analyzed Valtteri Bottas start in Hungary for Dutch television:

“The driver’s start is measured by various sensors. Turning off the light is the starting point, yet a tolerance of two tenths of a second remains. If a racer starts too fast, it must be more than two tenths. Otherwise, the sensors will not detect this as false start. It looks like Mercedes is trying something in this area.

The slow motion shows three red lights on Finn steering wheel, while Bottas does not look at the starting lights, but reacts to the switched off lights on his steering wheel.

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