FRIC Could Be Banned As Soon As Germany

[SectorOne]

Why? For me this clearly says, that FI can run without it and that their system is not good enough to run it everywhere. So at least one team that will be clearly against postponing the ban.

You never bite the hand that feeds you. And right now that hand is Mercedes HPP.
If i was Force India i would zip it, say thanks for the engine that is superior and probably masks most of the chassis performance and just be a yes man whenever Mercedes needs your back.

[Tim.Wright]

A quick look at the Caterham suggests that they have pro-dive on their front suspension, so I'd expect the ban to kick them hard in the balls.



The control arms are largely parallel and slope down to the back of the car so this would put the IC below the ground which means negative anti dive.

[FoxHound]

This really just boils down to Bullshit.
How can FRIC's be fine for years, with teams investing millions even this year, only for it to be wiped from existance? Whole concepts could be rendered useless.

I think Bernie has found his team to vote for the change. And my guess is they flounder at the back of the grid.

A fantastic example of why F1 is heading downhill.

[Moxie]

I think it is fair to say that everyone reads through the BS here. For CW to even suggest this ban mid-season carries the stench foul play. He has allowed this technology to exist for several seasons, and all of a sudden it's development is such a crisis that it must be banned mid season??? Yeah right!!!

Please allow me to speculate.

For so long the financial concerns have gone largely ignored until this week when Tony Fernandez threw in the towel. CW and the FIA must finally be figuring out that tensions are at an all time high, and there are probably not enough potential new team owners to cover the losses. I suspect this ban is a knee jerk reaction to an "OH 5H!T" moment in the offices of FOM. And true to FOM style, rather than address the real issues surrounding the financial woes of smaller teams, and the lack of competition within F1, the concoct this scheme to make the whole thing go away...as if. What kind of Grand Prix will they have if only four teams show up? FOM had better figure it out...and quickly.

[mikeerfol]

I think Bernie has found his team to vote for the change. And my guess is they flounder at the back of the grid.

Marussia?

[beelsebob]

Avoiding the politics, and trying to figure out something technical here.

Could it be that what they discovered from the drawings is that parts of the FRIC system are in fact (for example) bending parts of the car. e.g. potentially, a system could be designed where when the front suspension becomes compressed, the T-tray is pulled upwards.

I'm not saying that is what's going on, but a system like that seems to me to be the only way I could explain how FRIC could be found to be violating the rigidly secured rule.

[flyboy2160]

...For CW to even suggest this ban mid-season carries the stench foul play...

I dunno. This could just as easily be CW again stumbling bumbling into one of his in-over-my-head-so-I'll-change-my-mind-so-what-if-it-costs-millions fiascos. He's out of his depth with these highly technical cars - better suited to 60s era wrenching.

[basti313]

Avoiding the politics, and trying to figure out something technical here.

Could it be that what they discovered from the drawings is that parts of the FRIC system are in fact (for example) bending parts of the car. e.g. potentially, a system could be designed where when the front suspension becomes compressed, the T-tray is pulled upwards.

I'm not saying that is what's going on, but a system like that seems to me to be the only way I could explain how FRIC could be found to be violating the rigidly secured rule.

No. The rules about the T-Tray are VERY clear and the T-Trays are inspected in every way. Remember the heating up of the RedBull T-Tray last year?
The only thing they do is, that they lift the front axle when the rear suspension is compressed at high speed to keep the T-Tray from hitting the ground. RedBull was perfect on this one with the RB9, they managed to have the T-Tray touching the ground only very slightly.

[Lycoming]

At this rate, they may as well just ban F1 cars for being a moveable aerodynamic device.

[PlatinumZealot]

A quick look at the Caterham suggests that they have pro-dive on their front suspension, so I'd expect the ban to kick them hard in the balls.

http://f1tcdn.net/gallery/var/resizes/2 ... 8/nose.jpg

The control arms are largely parallel and slope down to the back of the car so this would put the IC below the ground which means negative anti dive.

That is anti-dive, Tim. Front arms sloped back/ rear arms sloped forward.

[Just_a_fan]

I reckon the big teams just need to go to Bernie and say "Do you want another 2005 Indy GP on your hands? Because if this comes in, we will still turn up at the races with the system on the cars, the stewards will disqualify us and you'll have a shovel full of egg on your face. F1 really doesn't need another fiasco like that, does it?"

Bernie will make it go away because when money talks he only listens to the money.

[PlatinumZealot]

I must say I love this ruling, being an Alonso and Hamilton fan. The "feeling" drivers can feel the car's small inertia shifts again!

[beelsebob]

Avoiding the politics, and trying to figure out something technical here.

Could it be that what they discovered from the drawings is that parts of the FRIC system are in fact (for example) bending parts of the car. e.g. potentially, a system could be designed where when the front suspension becomes compressed, the T-tray is pulled upwards.

I'm not saying that is what's going on, but a system like that seems to me to be the only way I could explain how FRIC could be found to be violating the rigidly secured rule.

No. The rules about the T-Tray are VERY clear and the T-Trays are inspected in every way. Remember the heating up of the RedBull T-Tray last year?

The T-Tray was given as an example. There are plenty of other parts that could potentially be bent with this method.

If they're simply raising or lowering wheels with the suspension, then I don't see how anyone could interpret that as violating the rules. At least, no more than any other suspension system.

[Cam]

Beautiful. Why would any team not vote that down. A massive change like this could level the field, what do you have to loose - unless you're Mercedes. I'd theorise someone has been sitting on this for a while, just waiting to play the card if they weren't performing. With Merc clearly 2 seconds a lap faster - what else can the teams do?

Remember, when you can't find performance on the track, you can find it in the court rooms - by hobbling others.

[mikeerfol]

Beautiful. Why would any team not vote that down. A massive change like this could level the field, what do you have to loose - unless you're Mercedes. I'd theorise someone has been sitting on this for a while, just waiting to play the card if they weren't performing. With Merc clearly 2 seconds a lap faster - what else can the teams do?

Remember, when you can't find performance on the track, you can find it in the court rooms - by hobbling others.

Well like someone else said, wouldn't it be dangerous since the cars were setup around it? It could be 1994 all over again. I think tomorrow some teams will test non-FRIC cars so we will see...