Mercedes chief designer John Owen believes there is "a desperate panic" in Formula 1 to prove why his team's innovative DAS device should be outlawed.
Mercedes unveiled its dual-axis steering system during pre-season testing in Barcelona, and it likely would have been raced in the originally planned season-opening grand prix in Australia prior to the event being cancelled.
It is understood that when Mercedes do eventually end up in a race situation with DAS in the car, Red Bull will likely launch a protest against its legality.
Owen, speaking on the first of Mercedes' 'Deep Dive' programme's earlier this month, suggested teams were trying to find reasons as to why DAS was illegal.
“We’ve seen with the DAS system already that there’s a lot of immediate reaction that it must not be within the rules,” said Owen.
“But the more people look at it, the more they sort of say, ‘Well, darn, oh yeah, okay, maybe it is in the rules, and why haven’t we seen it before?’.
“Now there’s a desperate panic to try and find the reason why it shouldn’t be within the rules.
In questo periodo di quarantena e di astinenza da Formula 1 guardavo il giro pole di Hamilton in Ungheria nel 2018. Chiedo al nostro sherlok holmes @matteobobbi . È solo una illusione ottica dovuta alle gocce o tira il volante a se come con il DAS? #skymotoripic.twitter.com/t9wBX6m7Yl