Active suspension was banned by the FIA from Formula 1 in 1994 in order to keep spending costs of the teams in check.
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Former Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill believes a return of active suspension would solve the issues of ‘porpoising’ which teams have faced so far.
The return of ground effect as a means to generate downforce in F1 cars led to an issue not seen since the late 1980s. Porpoising is the phenomenon of cars bouncing up and down on quick parts of the circuit.
This can lead to a multitude of problems, whether that be damage to the suspension or even the car. And Mercedes driver George Russell had suggested bringing back active suspension to combat the issue.
It is an assessment Hill also agrees with. “He (Russell) is absolutely right,” he told the F1 Nation podcast. “The brilliant thing about the active car was it could control much better the ride height of the car.
“If you look at pictures of the car I drove in 1993, you’ll look at it and think: ‘Wow, why is it on the floor? It literally was measured.
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“It could keep its distance from the ground to within half a millimetre, plus or minus. We didn’t have the tunnels that you have now on the 2022 car, we had a flat bottom.
“You could still generate downforce from that provided you could control the height of the car from the ground. Normal springs and dampers struggle, because they’re passive.
“In other words the greater the load on the car, the more they squash up and the stiffer they get, and the more likely they are to rebound.
“Whereas with the active car, the computer goes: ‘Right that’s close enough, we’ll just keep it there’, and off you go. It’s fantastic.”
As the old saying goes, never say never. Ground effect cars were also outlawed in the regulations in the early 1980s; but they will make a comeback in the 2022 season.
However, the chances of active suspension being made legal again would seem less likely. Adding a new technology – even one that has been used before – would increase costs.
And as things stand, the sport is in a cost cap era – where unlimited spending on development is not going to be allowed.
Therefore, unless something massive changes, the return of the technology that Williams mastered seems unlikely.
