The last in this series looking at F1 technologies that were banned looks at one innovation that the governing body were surely right to get rid of.
Banned! articles archive
The Formula One technologies which were banned for being too expensive, too dangerous – or too effective.
Banned: Tuned mass dampers
Banned!
Posted onThe biggest technical controversy of last season was the banning of Renault’s ‘tuned mass damper’ suspension system.
Banned: McLaren’s rear brake pedal
Banned!
Posted onOf the dozens of technologies banned by F1’s governing body through the years, McLaren’s rear brake pedal stands out as one of the most unjust.
Banned: Active suspension
Banned!
Posted onLotus’ began developing active suspension in 1982. Ten years later an active suspension car run by a different team dominated world championship.
Banned: Traction control
Banned!
Posted onMany F1 fans were pleased to hear traction control is being kicked out of the sport. But this is not the first time it has been banned.
Banned: X-wings
Banned!
Posted onTyrrell created one of F1’s most unusual aerodynamic devices but by the time Ferrari copied it the FIA had decided they should be banned.
Banned: Turbos
Banned!
Posted onF1 turbo engine technology was first dismissed, went through a difficult gestation, and then became ubiquitous – before it was banned.
Banned: Four-wheel-steering
Banned
Posted onOf all the exotic technologies to be banned from Formula 1 through the years, four wheel steering is perhaps be the only innovation to have been developed after it was outlawed.
Banned: Slick tyres
Banned!
Posted onGrooved tyres – surely the greatest anachronism in Formula One today? They appeared in 1998 after the FIA took the surprising decision to ban slicks.
Banned: Gas turbine engines
Banned!
Posted onColin Chapmans vision of a gas turbine-powered Formula One car almost produced an unlikely winner at the Indianapolis 500.
Banned: Six-wheelers
Banned!
Posted onAt least four different teams experimented with six-wheeled cars and they succeeded in producing some of the most hideous F1 cars ever seen.
Banned: Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46B ‘Fan Car’
Posted onThe Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46B ‘Fan Car’ achieved an incredible 100% victory rate: It started one race, won it, and was banned.
Banned: Rocket fuel
Banned!
Posted onBMW unlocked huge power from their turbo engines in the early eighties. Was a fuel derived from an old Nazi recipe really the secret of their success?
Banned: Beryllium
Banned!
Posted onThe banning of Renault’s mass dampers last year and the Michelin tyres in 2003 generated substantial press interest and controversy. In contrast the banning of beryllium and its alloys from F1 cars and, in particular, their engines did not.
Banned: Lotus-Cosworth 88 & 88B
Banned!
Posted onColin Chapman’s Lotus 88 was a victim of fraught political tensions at a time when the governing body and the British team were at each other’s throats over the rules of the sport.
Banned: Flexi-wings
Banned!
Posted onA new series looking at F1’s banned technologies begins with an aerodynamic tweak that was the centre of controversy last year: flexi-wings.