The FIA has confirmed that any ride-height system, such as the one rumoured to be on the RB6, would be deemed illegal by the sports technical regulations.
In a letter sent to all F1 teams, the FIA clarified that any self-levelling system, used to regulate the height of the cars through qualifying and the race, would go against article 34.5 of the sporting regulations.
“Any system device or procedure, the purpose and/or effect of which is to change the set-up of the suspension, while the car is under parc ferme conditions will be deemed to contravene article 34.5 of the sporting regulations,” read the communication, which Autosport managed to get hold of.
Red Bull have denied, on many occasions, the use of such a system after McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh openly suspected they were using some sort of ride-height adjustment system between qualifying and the race – giving them a massive downforce advantage, by running the car lower in qualifying, then increasing the height before the race to allow for a full race distance worth of fuel.
The FIA gave the RB6 the all-clear after it was inspected in Malaysia.
Whitmarsh admitted McLaren were developing a system to adjust the ride-height, rumoured to be ready for the next race in China. If this is the case, they will need to get the system passed by the FIA, which looks unlikely now that this communication has arisen.
