Without having understood the entire technical background I doubt that it is really illegal unless the FIA inspectors slept for a long time...But even if they would come to the conclusion now that it was not legal, what could they do about it? Disqualify Mercedes? I even more doubt about that....
Well..they let Brawn win the championship with an ilegal car (yes, it was ilegal).....They let Alonso and hamilton fight till the end for a championship while driving a acr built on stolen data!!! They let merc run a tyre test while it was forbidden and got away with it...They made the rules acording to merc wishes...all wa smade for them to win..and they are doing just so, so why bother...everything goes acording to plan....(except the part were people are stopping to watch the races)
Illegal may be the wrong word. > > > As above, I think illegal may be the wrong word. They certainly are exploring the limits of legal/illegal. Like the Brawn and their double diffuser (another poorly written rule that was exploited by some teams, Williams and Toyota had it too from the start), Mercedes has taken a rule that was made for the cash poor and desperately slow Manor, and fully exploited it. On a car that is already by far and away the best, they're taking the piss, really. All teams promptly removed all FRIC related stuff, Mercedes just develops it in the way they interpreted the rule change. Remember Sochi? There was an excellent camera shot of how much the mercedes can lean through a corner. Never seen that before in my life. The funny part is; ALL teams need to unanimously agree that it has to be removed. That means ALL teams, including Mercedes. Now why would they agree to a rule change, which would mean they have to redesign their entire suspension? Our only hope is that by next year it WILL be outlawed. Not that they will be much on the backfoot...but we can hope.
Well, when they declared FRIC not so legal everyone knew MERC was the ones pushing it the hardest. Voila, the next race not much changed (as far as I remember). Don't put your dreams on this being outlawed and changing the world. Who knows if it won't resurface in another form anyhow. They also assumed they'd be done with this topic after FRIC.
Without wanting to open that can of worms, F1 has long ago ceased to be the pinnacle of anything. In that sense the current PUs are a push in the right directions. Would they have stuck to V8 everything would have been yesterday's tech, except the aero and FRIC (edit: and tyre management) An all out tech race might indeed become somewhat interesting in race cars that are purely computer controlled, all about algorithm. Not that I see that being particularly interesting to watch but because the human factor does not stand in the center point.
Why every time a team comes up with a sophisticated smart and innovative component automatically becomes illegal? All I wish is Ferrari would have thought that and apply it to its cars. Some teams are playing politics while some others spend their time thinking outside the box and creating smart designs.
As-if each front-running team doesn't already have a non-FRIC suspension under development.... The question is, who has the best preliminary design? My money is on Mercedes AMG, as I believe they still receive the most advanced rules change leaks on the grid. However, Ferrari were one of the best pre-FRIC teams, and Arrivabene better start pulling his weight as the team's "in the know" Principal soon. I do disagree, however, that F1 suspension tech is anything but cutting-edge. Such nuance to tire deformation control is surely leaps-and-bounds beyond anything considered "road legal" is a joke. While the control is insanely minute, it makes a large difference at speed, on an F1 circuit, in an F1 car, but would be otherwise wasted on the road, in a road car, at pedestrian speeds. Hell, it would make close to zero difference in an AMG GT around the 'ring over the course of 1 lap.
What aerodynamic device is moving? While the article actually says little or nothing, only hints that Mercedes is still connecting front to rear the concept is to control pitch of the car so that it is more stable for aero performance. So if connecting front to rear was banned, if Mercedes are still doing this then it is illegal, otherwise not. Pete
Sounds legal to me, but clearly not in the spirit of the original exception for Manor. That being said, they are run by Germans and they can't help it. Seriously though - very smart; that is what you get with around one thousand people on a team. Finally - take the spacer out; or don't. Everyone knows about it now. Everyone has a "heave", just not as developed. It only changes pitch correct? Mechanical/hydraulic and not computer controlled? I only have a problem with systems that balance front to back or side-to-side actively by computer personally. Cool article - thanks for link.
But it's a suspension joint no? They cannot actively control the pitch at speed correct? That would be illegal. Their "heave" just reacts to changes in load no?
I agree only if it is *actively managed*. There should be no active management in suspension if you want a WDC. This would be a great area for robot racing in the future. EDIT - except actively managed by the driver of course aka "weight jacker" in Indycar
I say video or it didn't happen - the next time he goes hot into a 90 degree corner at 200 mph and his road car sticks, I'll be a believer.
