Monday 30 January at 07:35 : Jan.30 (GMM) The Lotus 'reactive ride height system' controversy may have been a storm in a teacup.

Writing in Turun Sanomat newspaper, Finnish correspondent Heikki Kulta said the former Renault team did not even intend to run the innovative concept in 2012.

The FIA pre-empted the teams' race to implement the systems when it emerged that Ferrari, Mercedes and possibly Red Bull were already rushing to emulate the Lotus concept.

Before the governing body's decision to ban it, Lotus gave the system its debut at the Abu Dhabi young drivers' test late last year.

But Kulta claims the team was not ready to give it a race debut "because it did not work properly".