McLaren stops its work on the new suspension

The McLaren team has stopped working on a cutting-edge suspension unit following FIA clarifications that any system regulating a car’s ride height under Parc Fermé conditions is illegal. Paddy Lowe’s engineering team was behind in developing a system that some other teams were suspected of having already implemented on their cars this year.

However, he confirmed that no additional work would be carried out on the system and that last week’s decision does not affect the MP4-25 driven by world champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

« We have been aware over the past few months of a different approach to this suspension system. An approach that, in the past, had no interpretation and we reacted to that. Now that the FIA has a new perspective on it by drawing a different line, we are reacting to that too. So we had to change a few small things. Fundamentally, we were working on a system and now we have it suspended. »

He denied that any self-leveling suspension system was used by McLaren this year and stated that the only modifications that will be made to the car for the Chinese weekend are aerodynamic in nature. Lowe continued by stating that he did not know if another team had arranged a height suspension control system, which is in violation of Article 34.5 of the FIA international sporting code.

« We have the feeling that other teams were more advanced in terms of development. I have no idea whether anyone else has a system on their cars. »