As the 1980s concluded F1’s first Turbo era came to a close and the teams were looking for a new way to gain a competitive advantage , what resulted was an incredible leap forward in the development of technology in F1. The early 90s were dominated by the development of driver aids however this was not a new concept and teams had been experimenting with various systems to aid drivers throughout the 80’s, but it was the rapid development between 1990-1993 where the use of driver aids got so advanced that the FIA stepped in and banned them for the ill-fated 1994 season.

What are driver aids ?

Driver aids are systems built into a vehicle to help make life easier for the driver , while they are banned in F1 today it was the development of driver aids that contributed to making production vehicles on the roads much safer. Modern vehicles are now required to have aids such as Traction control (TC) and Anti-Lock Braking systems (ABS) but in motorsport these are not required and can actually make cars slower for drivers.

Introduction of driver aids in F1

While Driver aids had been introduced in other forms of motorsport it took a while for F1 teams to start experimenting with them , however once they realized that a competitive advantage could be gained the teams would start putting their money into developing more and more complex systems. Over a short period between the late 80s and early 90s F1 cars would go from raw turbo charged beasts with very little in the way of driver aids , to very complex computers on wheels with traction control , Semi-automatic gearboxes , power steering and briefly anti-lock braking , but it was the development of ‘Active suspension’ that would ultimately bring change to the regulations.

Active suspension was an idea originally developed by F1’s most technologically influential designer and team with Colin Chapman and Lotus, after initially working on the idea as early as 1978 lotus would introduce the first version of an active suspension system in 1983 , unfortunately while lotus did have strong performances through the 80s particularly with Ayrton Senna at the wheel they would ultimately start to fall down the pecking order after 1987 as financial troubles would start to mount but their last great innovation active suspension would have a big future ahead.

Enter the Williams FW14b one of F1’s most dominant cars , an evolution from their highly competitive 1991 car designed by Adrian Newey , Patrick Head and co, the new car for 1992 would stun the F1 paddock at the first race in South Africa as Williams introduced their version of the Active suspension system as well as other driver aids and the result was a car that was fastest in every session and won the race by a comfortable margin. the reason this was such a big advantage is that it would take the other teams that had enough money months to create their own active suspension systems , ultimately the Williams FW14b would win 10 of the 16 races in 1992 and Nigel Mansell would dominate the drivers championship.

Why did Driver aids get banned ?

As the 1993 season arrived the other teams had attempted to match the complex FW14b but while the gap had been closed slightly as shown by Ayrton Senna winning 5 races in an underpowered McLaren-Ford it would ultimately be another season of Williams Dominance with the team once again winning 10 races and this time the championship would be won by the Ultra consistent Alain Prost ,his 4th and final championship.

So what caused the FIA to step in and ban driver aids , well there was a number of reasons firstly the drivers were starting to call for driver aids to be removed as many of the top drivers believed it made the sport less about skill and more about which team had the best technology , secondly the cars had become very fast and with the complexity of the cars the FIA believed that is a car had a technical fault it could be unsafe for the drivers and ultimately they would decide at the end of 1993 that driver aids would be banned for the 1994 season.

F1 post driver aids and their brief return

The 1994 season would be the first after the ban of technology , the aim of the regulations was to slow the cars down and make them safer but unfortunately this would massively backfire and the start of 1994 is now known for a series of tragic accidents. after the first tests in the new regulations drivers such as Ayrton Senna were already complaining that the cars were still very fast but now because they were much more difficult to drive they were less safe , the drivers fears became reality before the season even started with JJ Letho and Jean Alesi both being injured in testing accidents prior to the first race. by the time F1 reached Imola for round 3 of the 1994 season concerns over safety were increasing and what followed was the darkest weekend in F1 History.

There is plenty of very in-depth articles covering the 1994 San Marino GP and I’d recommend all F1 fans to read them as this race shaped the sport into what it is today. The Crash of Rubens Barichello resulting in him being knocked unconscious would be followed by two Fatal accidents, first Roland Ratzenburger in qualifying after hitting a concrete barrier after his front wing would become jammed under the car while travelling at over 180mph , the day after F1 lost its best driver as on Lap 7 of the race Ayrton senna veered off at the Frighteningly fast Tamburello Corner resulting in the front right suspension arm striking his head fatally injuring him.

The fallout from the events at Imola prompted immediate changes to try and improve safety and it was now clear the cars had become too dangerous due to their difficulty to drive and the limited time teams had to adapt to not having driver aids on the cars. ultimately F1 would not see another Fatal accident for 20 years and remains without driver aids to this day however there was a brief return of traction control in 2001 which along with development of aero would create one of the fastest eras of F1 before once again the FIA made attempts to slow the cars down. at the end of 2007 all driver aids would once again be banned and a new rule forcing all teams to use a standardized ECU was introduced to keep all electronics the same car to car.

Conclusion

F1’s technology crazy period in the early 90s may not have produced the best racing but it would show just what can be achieved by the best engineers in the world even with 90s technology. To this day the cars of 1993 were the most technologically advanced cars F1 has ever seen with many of the systems used during this period changing the way other cars in motorsport were made and even roads cars with advancements such as the semi-auto gearboxes which have now become the industry standard for high performance road cars.