FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[MILLARDSKI]

I know I'd had a very heavy night on Saturday, I know it was very early on Sunday morning to be watching a GP and I know that my TV Digi Box was playing up, BUT when Martin Whitmarsh was interviewed by the BBC presenters, DID HE SAY THAT MCLAREN THOUGHT RED BULL MIGHT HAVE SOME SORT OF (SECRET/ILLEGAL) RIDE HEIGHT CONTROL MECHANISM ON THEIR CARS?? If so, why does nothing seem to have appeared in this morning's media coverage of Australia with regard to this remark ~ or was Martin just making mischief?

[vaptin]

I know I'd had a very heavy night on Saturday, I know it was very early on Sunday morning to be watching a GP and I know that my TV Digi Box was playing up, BUT when Martin Whitmarsh was interviewed by the BBC presenters, DID HE SAY THAT MCLAREN THOUGHT RED BULL MIGHT HAVE SOME SORT OF (SECRET/ILLEGAL) RIDE HEIGHT CONTROL MECHANISM ON THEIR CARS?? If so, why does nothing seem to have appeared in this morning's media coverage of Australia with regard to this remark ~ or was Martin just making mischief?

He did say he thought they had one. Ferrari are also suspected. It's unclear as to wether their illegal or not, Horner said red bull weren't using one.

[Jabberwocky]

I have been thinking about this and it would not be hard to implement such a system.

I have a design that I have emailed to all the teams asking for something nice if they use it.

[headless]

ok

[Jensonb]

Yes he said he thought they had one, no he didn't exactly say it was illegal. He said people (By which he meant McLaren and several other teams) had understood it to be illegal. He then explained McLaren were working on a similar system to catch up, to hopefully debut after Malaysia.

[ivey]

Yes he said he thought they had one, no he didn't exactly say it was illegal. He said people (By which he meant McLaren and several other teams) had understood it to be illegal. He then explained McLaren were working on a similar system to catch up, to hopefully debut after Malaysia.

niceeeeee. Does anybody have an idea how much speed do you gain with that kind of a system?

Jabberwocky, what do you do for a living? It's interesting that you have your own ideas and send it out to f1 teams

[7UpJordan]

From what I heard, Red Bull's device is some kind of actuator inside one of the bumps on the front section of the car.

[FerrariFan63]

It's possible that the device, if it exists, has been shown to the FIA technical officials and passed as legal. So describing it as "illegal" might be a bit premature.

[antoniob]

RB says what the other teams dont know is that its designed to slow the car down by assisting the brakes cos they found that their car is much too fast this year. I dont understand this one so I'm going to sleep on it.

[Jensonb]

It's possible that the device, if it exists, has been shown to the FIA technical officials and passed as legal. So describing it as "illegal" might be a bit premature.

Hence why Whitmarsh basically said they're planning to copy the idea, not protest it.

[madbrad]

What I would do if I were MW is protest the existence of all the other teams because if their cars don't look exactly like ours, and we designed ours based on our interpretation of the rules, they must all be illegal. And if they do look like our car, they must be spying. If successful in my complaint I would have the only team in the field and would have a much better chance at winning the title.

[antoniob]

What I would do if I were MW is protest the existence of all the other teams because if their cars don't look exactly like ours, and we designed ours based on our interpretation of the rules, they must all be illegal. And if they do look like our car, they must be spying. If successful in my complaint I would have the only team in the field and would have a much better chance at winning the title.

Hows that for some light on the subject !!

[darwin dali]

According to Steve Matchett such a device would not be illegal as long as the car is not moving when it's being used to adjust the ride height, i.e., they could simply adjust it while changing the tires, which could be done within seconds.

[cap-dude]

The question is though. The only way it can advantage a team during quali, is if the ride height is low during quali. This seems to be the case given Ferrari and Red Bull's massive advantage during quali, but their lesser advantage during the race itself. So somehow Ferrari and Red Bull are running low ride heights during quali, and then somehow changing the ride height before the race.

Now obvisously the teams can't touch the cars after quali. Because they go into parc ferme

They aren't doing it during the race or warm-up laps because thats clearly illegal. Ride heights aren't allowed to change whilst the car is moving.

It doesn't make sense adjusting the ride heights during the pits stops, because if the ride heights were low during quali, the cars would be scraping of the ground for the first 10-12 laps, and it would be too late to change the ride height.


I believe what was suggested, was that somehow, some sort of a ballast was being used so that when the fuel is put in after quali, the car somehow raises itself.


What really amazes me is the lack of talk about this system which appears to bring a fairly large advantage. Simply because no one really seems to understand exactly whats going on. Strange given things like the double diffuser and f-duct were discovered and copied instantly.

[darwin dali]

What really amazes me is the lack of talk about this system which appears to bring a fairly large advantage. Simply because no one really seems to understand exactly whats going on. Strange given things like the double diffuser and f-duct were discovered and copied instantly.

Maybe because it's internal, hidden away unlike double diffusers or f-duct?