FRIC Could Be Banned As Soon As Germany

[WaikeCU]

I wonder if Merc may still run it, convinced that their system is legal. If they fail and it's deemed illegal, they only lose hypothetically 43 points (WCC). If they win, the system will remain legal till the end of the year. Since they are the team with the most to lose, they might find the trade-off worth it if it means they can keep running it. Unless they know it's illegal under the clarifyed interpretation and/or they know they have a big enough advantage without it.

If they run it: bad for whoever wins this race-weekend if they are then disqualifyed (WDC).
If they don't run it: it'll be very interesting to see what the gap is to the rest of the field...

Too bad I won't be around to watch it.

It certainly feels like a lose-lose situation. If they win there's still unsure if they are safe and not get disqualified and if they don't run it, there's still an uncertainty whether they will lose a lot. So it's bound to hurt them anyway, but how much compared to the competition.

Won't be watching either. I'm on vacation to France.

[Phil]

The thing that I'm trying to get my head around, is the impact it will have on a car that was designed with FRIC in mind. If they disable it, will we see the car bottoming out (because the car will no longer remain stable under heavy braking), so to solve that, they will need to run a lot higher - which will have an effect on overal downforce levels, which is also one of their big strengths. If they know it might have a big impact, they might try to seek clarification by using FRIC this weekend/thursday.

At least I will be around till Sunday afternoon, so I will get to see qualifying, maybe even part of the race on Sunday!

Does anyone know if FRIC yields a higher advantage under full load (race + fully fueled) when there is more energy shifting during braking and cornering or is the difference dismal to qualifying with a light car?

[WaikeCU]

The thing that I'm trying to get my head around, is the impact it will have on a car that was designed with FRIC in mind. If they disable it, will we see the car bottoming out (because the car will no longer remain stable under heavy braking), so to solve that, they will need to run a lot higher - which will have an effect on overal downforce levels, which is also one of their big strengths. If they know it might have a big impact, they might try to seek clarification by using FRIC this weekend/thursday.

At least I will be around till Sunday afternoon, so I will get to see qualifying, maybe even part of the race on Sunday!

Does anyone know if FRIC yields a higher advantage under full load (race + fully fueled) when there is more energy shifting during braking and cornering or is the difference dismal to qualifying with a light car?

Exactly. Will this be a repeat of 1994 when lots of electronic aids where banned in that season. Williams in 1993 was famous for those electronic aids. Cars in 1994 were fast and barely controllable. Remember back then there was proper Winter testing and there was testing throughout the season. Yet, cars were dangerously fast and uncontrollable in 1994.

Now with FRIC-ban, they only had 2 days of testing in Silverstone and still it's not entirely sure that they have removed the FRIC during those 2 testing days. Imagine the Mercedes without the FRIC, will it be okay-ish or will the drive be even worse than the Ferrari.

[Thunder]

The simulation Tools and testing Rigs the Teams have these Days are miles better than 20 Years before. While running without FRICS will definately have an impact i don't think the Cars will behave uncontrollable.

[PlatinumZealot]

The thing that I'm trying to get my head around, is the impact it will have on a car that was designed with FRIC in mind. If they disable it, will we see the car bottoming out (because the car will no longer remain stable under heavy braking), so to solve that, they will need to run a lot higher - which will have an effect on overal downforce levels, which is also one of their big strengths. If they know it might have a big impact, they might try to seek clarification by using FRIC this weekend/thursday.

At least I will be around till Sunday afternoon, so I will get to see qualifying, maybe even part of the race on Sunday!

Does anyone know if FRIC yields a higher advantage under full load (race + fully fueled) when there is more energy shifting during braking and cornering or is the difference dismal to qualifying with a light car?

You still need a good base car before you put the FRIC on. Remember the FRIC is only a reationary device for the suspension it is not the suspension itself. I don't think a poor suspension with FRIC on it will perform as a good suspension.

[the EDGE]

The thing that I'm trying to get my head around, is the impact it will have on a car that was designed with FRIC in mind. If they disable it, will we see the car bottoming out (because the car will no longer remain stable under heavy braking), so to solve that, they will need to run a lot higher - which will have an effect on overal downforce levels, which is also one of their big strengths. If they know it might have a big impact, they might try to seek clarification by using FRIC this weekend/thursday.

At least I will be around till Sunday afternoon, so I will get to see qualifying, maybe even part of the race on Sunday!

Does anyone know if FRIC yields a higher advantage under full load (race + fully fueled) when there is more energy shifting during braking and cornering or is the difference dismal to qualifying with a light car?

You still need a good base car before you put the FRIC on. Remember the FRIC is only a reationary device for the suspension it is not the suspension itself. I don't think a poor suspension with FRIC on it will perform as a good suspension.

I agree, My understanding of the reason FRIC is being banned is because it has little impact on improving how the suspension operates and is used primarily as an aid to aero, allowing cars to be run lower than would be otherwise possible

[Moxie]

I wouldn't argue that the cars would fail dramatically. But engineering an F1 car involves making a lot of compromises. For the 2014 season those compromises were made with the inclusion of FRIC. Now that FRIC is banned, the car is likely to perform in a manner that is suboptimal compared to the way it would have performed if FRIC was not part of the package from the beginning.

[Juzh]

Sauber to run fric:
http://www.f1times.co.uk/news/display/09118

[iotar__]

The system was checked by FIA and deemed legal, rules didn't change and FRIC didn't change. Only thing that is new is that Whiting manufactured some technical directive out of the blue mid-season with only vague indication that there are some "extreme" implementation, well draw a line and ban those extremes then, all non-extreme ones should be fine?

Movable aero? So when Mercedes (one team) had driver-operated-movable=DRS-connected wing stalling system it wasn't a movable aero but when everybody has FRIC present for several years, perfectly legal and tested suspension FIA has sudden realisation mid-season to call to illegal? BTW where are those drivers concerned that F1 is too slow? Complain away now, tough guys, no - they're trained when to be quiet and when to complain.

I hope Sauber runs it. Maybe they have one that's barely working , not extreme. What about Ferrari?

[diemaster]

Formula 1 teams all remove FRIC suspension for German Grand Prix

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114997

[SectorOne]

Imagine the irony if Mercedes is the team least affected by the removal.

[CBeck113]

Formula 1 teams all remove FRIC suspension for German Grand Prix

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114997

RIP FRIC

[FoxHound]

And so, F1 kills itself a little bit more.

[FrukostScones]

And so, F1 kills itself a little bit more.

FRIC was sooo relevant... may it Rest In Peace.
And are at least the aeroformula dislikers happy that it is (most probably) history..?
I don't see anything wrong by the FIA, Jo Bauer (studied engineer) will investigate if necessary...

[iotar__]

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... 66446.html
Amus (can be wrong): 5 teams against FRIC: Caterham , Marussia, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, McLaren. No Ferrari but Red Bull. So maybe their system wasn't that good after all. Funny to see that after all campaigning against "random/lottery" tyres in recent years and relative struggles, maybe it wasn't that random, huh?