Hi Guys, it appears the FIA want to ban the FRIC midseason. I understand that the plan initially was to ban it at the end of the season but things appear to have escalated.
"FRIC stands for “Front and Rear-Interconnected" system, which links the front and rear suspension using hydraulics with the aim of improving ride stability; it helps F1 cars to maintain a better balance as the car goes through changes of pitch and roll angle. Essentially the engineers are trying to maintain a static ride height as the car pitches and rolls through corners." (James Allen F1),
Apparently the FRIC helps to give the driver confidence in the car and the real boost is that it helps make the tyres to work better. Spreading the load evenly on all four corners is very important with the Pirelli tyres. It is rumoured that Mercedes and Williams have the best FRICs at the moment but knowing Newey, I'm sure RedBull are in on the act as well.
Banning the FRIC will shake things up a bit but not to the same extent as banning the EBD.
"The answer, from discussing the situation with a few F1 engineers, is that the lap time difference from banning FRIC suspension will be around three to four tenths of a second, depending on how well the system is working on individual cars. Lotus was one of the first teams to use it but Mercedes was onto it quickly and it has certainly contributed to their competitiveness. However it is unlikely to make any real difference to the pecking order in F1. Silverstone showed that Mercedes still enjoys a significant performance advantage over the rest. (James Allen F1).
So my immediate question is, why make rule changes mid-season. Completely pointless and truth be told, this will not affect the grid too much. Force India also did extensive work on their FRIC at silverstone.
So chaps, what do you say, to FRIC or not to FRIC? That is the question.
Your thoughts, please!!
Much Ado about FRIC
posted on 13/7/14
Every team has run FRICs this year. Force India's FRICs malfunctioned and they removed it before Monaco.
posted on 13/7/14
I think FRICs first appeared on the 2008 Renault, with complex systems now on the Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, Lotus, and Williams.
Even Marussia has got a good one, only Caterham and Sauber has a failed version.
posted on 13/7/14
Not surprisedabout Sauber struggling with it. It would explain why Sutil and Gutierrez cannot get the car to brake as it is always unstable.
If that is the case, then I think the majority will carry the vote
posted on 14/7/14
""Leave it as is I say.""
I couldn't agree more. Are Grand Prix Cars (anybody remember that expression from the pre "eff-wun" days?) the pinnacle of technology or not? If designers can build systems like this they should be allowed to do so, anti-dive and anti-squat are designed in, are they going to ban that too? Geometry set-ups induce a degree of rear wheel steer, perhaps that should be banned. ( For all the above please add the phrase, "unless your car is red"
If Alonso was winning races there would be no problem.
That is a certainty.
posted on 14/7/14
comment by Pacific Ocean Blue (U3037)
posted 7 hours, 19 minutes ago
""Leave it as is I say.""
I couldn't agree more. Are Grand Prix Cars (anybody remember that expression from the pre "eff-wun" days?) the pinnacle of technology or not? If designers can build systems like this they should be allowed to do so, anti-dive and anti-squat are designed in, are they going to ban that too? Geometry set-ups induce a degree of rear wheel steer, perhaps that should be banned. ( For all the above please add the phrase, "unless your car is red"
If Alonso was winning races there would be no problem.
That is a certainty.
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Nail on head. Remember the race at Silverstone where the EBD was banned just to let him win.
Ferrari International Assistance, strikes again
posted on 15/7/14
It's all coming out, Minardi had a passive FRIC system 20 years ago.....
Thats many years of illegal cars?
posted on 15/7/14
Apparently Minardi couldn't afford the electronics etc for Active suspension, so developed a Passive system. Didn't they stop using it when Active was banned.
posted on 16/7/14
I think it became less effective when they banned the active part but it stayed on the car (not that the car could finish a race mind!)
posted on 17/7/14
So one wonders why all the fuss now?
posted on 22/7/14
Seems the RedBull team were the most affected by the FRIC