Shortly after news broke that the former Renault team had devised a passive and therefore legal system to stabilise a car’s ride height under braking, reports emerged that Ferrari is “working on a similar system”.

The BBC said last week that it believed the Italian giant was “the only other team to have contacted the FIA” about the concept.

But Italian reports, including on the Italiaracing website and the daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, claim Mercedes GP is also working to “quickly copy” the Lotus idea.

Mercedes does not intend to take its new car, the W03, to the first official test at Jerez early next month, instead opting for additional factory time ahead of the second session at Barcelona.

It is also rumoured that Red Bull experimented with a Lotus-style braking system back in 2010 but abandoned it.

YallaF1.com