FIA ban reactive ride height system

F1 teams have been told that the reactive ride height device, pioneered by the Lotus team, has been banned for 2012.

(c) Octane Photographic

It has been confirmed by valued sources that a note was sent to all the F1 teams on Friday evening indicating the ban. It is said the FIA are not satisfied that the concept, which regulates the ride height under braking, is legal.



Reports at the moment are unclear on why this decision has been made, but it is sure to affect the Ferrari and Lotus teams the most. It was first seen on the Lotus car at the Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test and Ferrari have also expressed a similar concept which was waiting to be legalised. 

The news was broken on The Flying Lap in an interview between F1 Journalist Peter Windsor and Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillian. The latter said he received a note just before the shows broadcast, saying "The FIA has just banned that particular type of system," before adding "We have been investigating that type of system for a while. It obviously has an impact on the aero platform of the car, (and) anything that gets the front ride height lower is beneficial from an aerodynamic perspective."

Details on the reason for the ban are still unclear but the ban will directly target Ferarri and Lotus who have already spent a number of months developing the concept, Lotus even had it legalised.

Comment your views below? Should they have banned it in the first place? Why so close to the testing dates?