Teams agree to ban F-ducts in 2011

Formula One teams have agreed to ban the F-duct concept next year. In Sunday morning's FOTA meeting, most of the teams were in favor to ban the system, even though McLaren tried to convince some teams to keep it within the rules.

McLaren enjoyed an early season advantage on its rivals after it invented a driver controlled stalling of the rear wing over the winter.

While it was knee-operated in the McLaren, newer systems introduced by Sauber and Ferrari allowed the driver to block the duct and stall the wing with his hand. This led to situations where at times drivers are running at more than 200 km/h with one or even no hands on the steering wheel.

Most of the teams believed that costs for next year's designs would spiral out of control and are not worth the security risk drivers would be exposed to with the new system. As a simple majority of teams decides in FOTA meetings, neither of the teams will implement the system in 2011.

Mercedes GP CEO Nick Fry told Autosport that he supported the ban on F-Ducts because the designs brought little to the sport.

"I personally think that it is sensible to nip in the bud technologies that, on the face of it, don't really have a relevance for use outside of F1."

"By the end of the year I know we, and I am sure most of the other teams, will have an F-Duct on their car and that neutralises the advantage of having it."

He added: "I know it is disappointing for those who invent these ideas, but I think what people have to get used to is, like the double diffuser idea, they may be fairly short lived. What we should be encouraging is stuff that we can be using elsewhere, and I am personally a big proponent of KERS because of that."