I was about to create an article titled “For FRICs Sake”

Some teams have been able to get the concept working to their advantage and some are developing it and some, Force India I believe, don't understand it.

So Germany will be interesting.

The problem with F1 is that it is the only sport where the competitors get to set or veto the rules.

Personally, I'm all for making the cars a bit less stable and more difficult to drive as it's great watching the drivers wrestle with them.

However, implementing quite large rule changes mid-way through a season doesn't seem the greatest idea. Changes like this impact on smaller teams who have designed this system and then need to spend a lot of money (which they don't have) redesigned parts of their car again.

That being said, if it's a change which will reduce costs (which it probably will) then I'm not going to complain too much. But yes, if the effect on the field turns out to be minimal, it will seem pretty much a waste of time and effort.

Tbh I'm sick of f1 being tamed in a bid to slow down cars all the time. F1 should be the pinnacle and leader of car performance. Technologies developed in F1 should then filter down to road cars.

I'm all for making the cars more difficult to drive to enhance.entertainment, but this season has been one of.the most exciting, especially in the midfield.

Leave it alone!!

FRIC is basically just a recycling of Active Suspension which was outlawed before the 1994 season. I can't see how this was allowed by the FIA in the first place. However it has been allowed and should stay at least until the August break, but preferably till the end if the season.

It should be allowed to the end of the season and banned afterwards. It's on average a 0.4 second advantage per lap and may prevent you from doing an extra pitstop.

Leave it as is I say.

Just to inform or remind people;
The FIA 2014 Technical Regulations Articles 10.2.2 and 10.2.3 state the following:
10.2.2 Any powered device which is capable of altering the configuration or affecting the performance of any part of the suspension system is forbidden.
10.2.3 No adjustment may be made to the suspension system while the car is in motion.

In my view FRIC does exactly that, though I could be misunderstanding FRIC and it is something new.

However this is also covered by the Regulations:
2.5 New systems or technologies :
Any new system, procedure or technology not specifically covered by these regulations, but which is deemed permissible by the FIA Formula One Technical Department, will only be admitted until the end of the Championship during which it is introduced. Following this the Formula One Commission will be asked to review the technology concerned and, if they feel it adds no value to Formula One in general, it will be specifically prohibited.
Any team whose technology is prohibited in this way will then be required to publish full technical details of the relevant system or procedure.

Which as MUDD says should therefore mean the technology which has so far been admitted in 9 races so far "will only be admitted until the END of the championship during which it is introduced"
Case closed.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

The FRIC actually was perfected by Lotus. It was clearly evident last year. Mercedes used a derivative last year but Lots were the masters of it.

I do not believe Mercedes are the only team running it. Would not mind if it was banned personally but it would affect the midfield teams who are doing well this season like Williams.

One wonders whether Ferrari International Assistance are trying to help their team as they may not have got to grips with it yet

The FIA have been suspicious about the illegal use of the concept for some time. They asked the teams to explain to them in detail their usesage of the system and the teams admitted it was for aerodynamic effect, which is illegal.

The ban had to be announced now because the teams were developing their 2015 cars.

The FIA have given the teams a chance to keep FRICS until the end of the season providing there is unanimous agreement that no team will protest.

Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, Lotus and Marussia are saying they are happy for the systems to stay on board for 2014.

comment by ManUtdDaredevil (U9612)
posted 23 minutes ago
The FRIC actually was perfected by Lotus. It was clearly evident last year. Mercedes used a derivative last year but Lots were the masters of it.

I do not believe Mercedes are the only team running it. Would not mind if it was banned personally but it would affect the midfield teams who are doing well this season like Williams.

One wonders whether Ferrari International Assistance are trying to help their team as they may not have got to grips with it yet
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from my understanding merc first developed it hence they probably have the most evolved system and would obviously stand to lose more than the other teams that use it -

http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/fric.html

i expect all the major teams are running it and hence i think it is wrong for the FIA to ban it halfway thru a season - but sadly money talks in all sports and this ban is ultimately only about money or the loss of it -

personally manx as much as i dont want to see a merc domination i think it stinks to penalize one team halfway thru a season for the sake of money and lost viewing figures --

Every team has run FRICs this year. Force India's FRICs malfunctioned and they removed it before Monaco.

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.

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

""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.

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

It's all coming out, Minardi had a passive FRIC system 20 years ago.....
Thats many years of illegal cars?

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.

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!)

So one wonders why all the fuss now?

Seems the RedBull team were the most affected by the FRIC