BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Is the innovative DAS — Dual Axis Steering — system that Mercedes revealed in preseason testing legal?

DAS allows the drivers to adjust the front wheel toe settings by pushing or pulling the steering wheel, which in turn permits the car to have stability in the corners and optimum straight-line speed.

The Red Bull team planned to file a formal protest against the DAS system during the Australian Grand Prix weekend, but never got the opportunity.

Canceling the Australian Grand Prix means that many questions that would have been answered during the course of the weekend will now remain unanswered for many weeks.

For example: Which team would come out on top of the midfield battle?

“We have more or less an idea of where we could be,” McLaren’s Carlos Sainz said, “but we do not know exactly where – just like every other team. There are only 24 hours left to know more or less where we really are. By FP2 everyone will start to know where they are at, the long runs, the qualifying runs, as we will run more or less similar fuel loads, and we know more or less how the picture is. So 24 hours and maybe I can answer you.”

That was at a McLaren press conference in the Albert Park paddock. Because McLaren wanted to protect Sainz due to the Covid-19 crises, the journalists were kept at least six feet away from him. Other teams took similar precautions with their drivers, and the teams also did not let their drivers go to any TV interviews where they would be surrounded by TV crews.

The drivers never got out on the track on Friday, of course, as the entire event was canceled the following morning.

Another question that went unanswered was just how fast would the Ferrari be? Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, Renault, Racing Point, Williams and AlphaTauri are still angry that that the FIA and Ferrari reached an agreement regarding Ferrari’s power unit that was kept confidential. Ferrari teams Alfa Romeo and Haas side with their supplier. It is believed that Ferrari found a loophole in the rules last year regarding fuel flow to the power unit. That loophole has now been closed, so it would have been interesting to see just how competitive were the Ferraris.

Fans and drivers and teams will also have to wait just how competitive the Red Bull is after Max Verstappen said that the car needed to be improved “everywhere – it’s never perfect.”

The teams will now have many weeks to work on their cars – but no track testing is permitted – and in the meantime the questions will go answered.

The series is scheduled to finally get underway June 12-14 in Canada.