The FIA is said to have banned reactive suspension!
Barely unveiled ten days ago, the reactive suspension system (or ride height correction) on which Lotus seemed to pin a lot of hopes, similar to Mercedes notably, has allegedly already been banned by the FIA, deeming it contravenes the technical regulations for the upcoming season.
We wrote last week that the Lotus ride height adjustment system could be the first technical controversy of the 2012 season, but it appears that this innovation has already been banned before it could even be tested.
According to Mat Coch, an independent journalist reported by our colleagues at *Pitpass*, the FIA has decided to ban “reactive suspension.” A communication is said to have been sent to all teams on Friday, informing them of the ban of this mechanism, specifying that its implementation relies on modifying the length of a suspension member, particularly the one using the movement of the brake caliper, which would therefore violate the technical regulations.
Concretely, the idea was to attach the suspension arm to the wheel hub via a small hydraulic system, allowing a play of a few millimeters and thereby enabling the team to adjust the ride height of the car on the track. It could have helped resolve stability issues during braking, especially after the deactivation of the DRS. Additionally, by preventing the front end from dipping too much during braking, this system would have allowed the front of the car to be lighter and therefore less demanding on the tires. During acceleration, this ride height adjuster could, conversely, prevent the front of the F1 from lifting too much, ensuring, once again, better aerodynamic efficiency. Finally, such a system would have allowed for a better compromise in terms of the ride height used during the race, as drivers start with a full tank and typically finish with the regulatory minimum.
This decision, if confirmed, would therefore deal a serious blow to the hopes of Lotus, which had gone the furthest in developing this system, as well as to those of Mercedes. As for Red Bull and Ferrari, they would no longer need to waste time and money trying to uncover the secrets of this technological breakthrough, which specialists estimated would gain around three-tenths of a second on a classic circuit.
As a reminder, our colleagues from Autosport initially reported that the FIA had given the green light to Lotus for the implementation of this system before retracting for a reason that is not yet clear. As for Pitpass, they had already mentioned the possibility that this system might be rejected based on Article 3.15 of the technical regulations concerning movable aerodynamic devices.
Update at 11:00: Williams chief engineer Mark Gillan confirmed on the show The Flying Lap that this ride height adjuster has indeed been banned: « The FIA has just banned this system. We have conducted our investigation on it. It is clear that it has an impact on the car’s aerodynamics. Anything that allows lowering the front height is beneficial from an aerodynamic point of view ».
