The FIA is confident the Australian Grand Prix will not be mired in suspension system-related controversy after asking certain F1 teams to change their designs.
Ferrari prompted a row at the start of the year when it wrote to the FIA for clarification on 'trick' suspension systems it felt could illegally aid aerodynamic performance. Though the letter was framed as a simple enquiry as to whether Ferrari could implement such systems, it was aimed at challenging designs pioneered by Mercedes and also used by Red Bull.
The FIA followed up Ferrari's letter by stating that teams had to prove their suspensions were not designed to artificially aid aerodynamics -- enforcing Article 3.15 of the regulations which bans moveable aerodynamic devices. Speaking ahead of this weekends season opener, which some predicted would be mired in protests about suspensions, FIA race director Charlie Whiting outlined what has done to draw a line under the issue.
"It's simply that we've been aware of hydraulically operated suspension systems on cars sometimes but it became clear that they were being used for purposes other than the suspension," he said. "So under the regulations where you are allowed to have a suspension system that effects to the aerodynamic performance of the car in anything other than an incidental way, then we don't allow it so that's the impractical take.
"We wanted to see whether suspension is genuinely suspension or whether there was a predominant lead to effect the aerodynamic performance of the car. So that's the change effectively is that we've been focusing far more on that this year."
Whiting also confirmed the FIA used the two weeks of testing in Barcelona to start conducting checks on all the cars, a process which raised his hopes of an argument-free opening race.
"So far so good," he said about the checks. "Marcin [Budkowski] and Jo [Bauer] did a lot of work in Barcelona going through all the systems, and the ones we have inspected so far [in Australia] have been as we expected them to be. We don't anticipate any problems."
Another issue of intrigue raised over the winter was around teams burning oil as fuel, after Red Bull asked for clarification due to suspicions of Mercedes doing so to boost qualifying performances. Whiting revealed this is also an area the FIA is keeping a close eye on.
"We are certainly monitoring it. We did quite a lot of work on it in Barcelona. We are going to inspect all the oil systems here and we are going to randomly check oil consumption to make sure that it is not being used as fuel."