Timelines · Formula 1 · 5 of 7
A computer held the car perfectly level so the aerodynamics never stopped working.
1992·Renault RS3C/RS4 3.5 L V10·~760 hp·1992: 10 wins, 15 poles; both titles (Mansell, by round 11)·Active suspension, traction control, semi-auto gearbox
· THE STORY
By the 1990s a Formula 1 car’s downforce depended exquisitely on its exact height and angle over the road — and every bump, brake and corner disturbed it. The Williams FW14B replaced conventional suspension with computer-controlled hydraulic rams that repositioned the car fifty times a second, keeping its aerodynamic platform perfectly steady. It was so dominant the technology was banned within two years.
· WHY IT MATTERED
Sensors read the car’s height, roll and pitch hundreds of times a second, and hydraulic actuators pushed each wheel to hold the body exactly where the aerodynamicists wanted it. Grip stopped depending on springs and started depending on code.
· WHY IT MATTERED
A passive car rolls in corners and dives under braking, and its wings and floor lose suction exactly when the driver needs them. Held flat, the FW14B kept essentially all its downforce all the time — worth around two seconds a lap, an eternity in F1.
· WHY IT MATTERED
With traction control and a semi-automatic gearbox alongside, the FW14B made electronics the fastest component on the car. The FIA banned active suspension and driver aids for 1994 — one of the clearest cases of a technology outlawed for working too well.
· TRY IT
Load the car up in a corner and compare. The passive car rolls and its ride height wanders, bleeding away downforce; flick the active system on and the computer holds the platform level, keeping the aerodynamics at full strength through the whole corner.
Nineties aerodynamics were exquisitely sensitive to ride height — a few millimetres cost real downforce. The FW14B’s insight was that the suspension’s true job had become holding the aerodynamic platform still; the driver was almost incidental. It was banned for 1994.