The word on everyone’s lips ahead of the German grand prix weekend is ‘Fric’.<\/p>\n
In the days before scrutineering on Thursday, the biggest questions are: will teams continue to use the newly-controversial technology, and will their rivals lodge protests?<\/p>\n
The issue arose after Silverstone, when Charlie Whiting wrote a letter warning that the ‘front and rear interconnected’ suspension systems may in fact be illegal.<\/p>\n
It has not been banned, but the FIA official said some teams may choose to lodge protests which could be upheld by the stewards.<\/p>\n
In a move to calm the situation, efforts have been made to circulate an agreement to stave off the protest threat in 2014 before a ban is put in place for next year.<\/p>\n
But Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that Whiting’s efforts to get all eleven team principals to sign the document have failed.<\/p>\n
Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus and Williams reportedly committed orally to postponing the ban until 2015, but that is all.<\/p>\n
The report said the team most likely to lodge a protest is Caterham.<\/p>\n
“Let’s see if anyone has the courage by Thursday to protest Fric,” an FIA source is quoted as saying, referring to the preferred deadline for a race weekend protest.<\/p>\n
In reality, however, the lack of unanimity on the issue leaves teams running sophisticated Fric systems little choice but to remove the technology immediately.<\/p>\n
The first to show its hand is McLaren.<\/p>\n
“McLaren does not currently intend to run a Fric suspension system at the German grand prix,” said a spokesman for the Woking based team.<\/p>\n
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