FIA bans innovative damper system

With so little to separate the competitiveness of Renault and Ferrari in their battle for the world championship, this week's surprise outlawing of 'mass' dampers could have an impact in the outcome of the title fight.

Mass dampers are simple mechanical devices that comprise of a weight, believed to be around 9kg, mounted in a spring. They improve a car's performance by dampening out tyre bouncing frequencies throughout corners and therefore keeping grip levels more consistent.

Renault were believed to be the first to use the device, although they have never officially confirmed that they were running with it. Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and most recently McLaren have subsequently developed their own systems.

Autosport's technical consultant Gary Anderson told the magazine earlier this year: "You see a car bouncing, such as when it hits a kerb. This will be around 8-9Hz (hertz, unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second) on the tyres.

"This device will get an equal frequency going in the opposite direction. It's a bit like a tall building designed to withstand an earthquake where they put the water tank on the roof - so that when the building sways, the water is going in the opposite direction at the same frequency."

With the use of mass dampers growing, however, the FIA this week stepped into the situation and outlawed them completely.

With the damper systems helping improve handling characteristics through corners and over kerbs by keeping the car more level, the FIA has claimed that the devices are illegal because they are 'moveable aerodynamic devices'.

A letter sent to the teams by FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting said:  "The use of mass dampers, normally fitted in the nose of a car, is now widespread. Even though we have never been asked specifically whether or not their use may contravene any part of the Technical Regulations our view, until now, has been that they do not.

"However, recent evidence and an escalation in development by some teams, has made it clear to us that the principle purpose of these devices is to improve the aerodynamic performance of the car.

"As the mass suspended inside the dampers is designed to move freely it is therefore not secured to the entirely sprung part of the car nor does it remain immobile in relation to it.

"Therefore, as this movement influences the aerodynamic performance of the car we feel that mass dampers of this sort contravene Article 3.15 of the F1 Technical Regulations and we no longer consider their use permissible."

Although it is hard to say exactly what effect the ban will have in terms of the fight between the main championship contenders, there are suggestions that Renault stand to lose more than Ferrari because of the characteristics of Michelin's tyres.

Michelin's rubber has a more compliant structure than the Bridgestone, meaning there is more benefit to be gained from damping out tyre bouncing than there is in the Japanese rubber.

Insiders suggest that the benefit from running a mass damper on a Michelin tyre could be as much as three tenths of a second per lap on certain tracks with heavy braking and high kerbs.

Autosport.com understands that the benefit for the Bridgestone teams is much less, and that because of that Ferrari only ran the system at some races this year.

Bridgestone's technical manager Hisao Suganuma is not expecting any change in the competitiveness of Ferrari as a result of the ban.

"We are not anticipating any impact on our tyre performance," he said.

Although any possible loss in performance caused by the mass damper ban seems small, the fight between Ferrari and Renault has been so close that any factor benefiting either team could be enough to sway the balance in their favour.

And any short-term impact in the performance of the teams will be exaggerated by the fact that F1's summer testing ban is about to kick in, meaning developments to recoup the time lost from the damper ban cannot be tried out on track until the test at Monza in late August.