BMW Sauber boss Mario Theissen has fired a fresh salvo in the diffuser controversy – saying the FIA must take “urgent action” in clarifying their legality to ensure the sport is not devalued by “meaningless” results.
The German also claims Formula 1's cost-cutting drive has been “torpedoed” by the fact that teams not running ‘double-decker’ designs are being forced to develop them, while the taller diffusers have also pushed cornering speeds back up.
Early season-pacesetters Brawn, Toyota and Williams have raised the ire of their rivals after all taking a different interpretation of the 2009 regulations regarding the diffuser at the rear of their cars.
And with the alternative designs appearing to offer a clear performance advantage, the season’s first two races have seen protests lodged against the trio’s cars, first by Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault in Australia and then by BMW last weekend in Malaysia.
Although race stewards declared on each occasion that the cars were legal, the four protesting teams will now take their grievances to the FIA’s International Court of Appeal on April 14 – where another green light from the governing body would force the rest of the grid to adopt them.
Theissen says the fact that teams have been working to different interpretations of the rule book has been damaging for the sport and has called on the FIA to make a definitive judgement on the situation next week.
“Once again, the dominance of the teams using the two-level diffuser was there for all to see in Malaysia,” he said on BMW Sauber’s official website.
“As early as qualifying it was difficult to break this trio’s stranglehold.
“The FIA must take urgent action to clarify the situation, to rule out different interpretations of the regulations.
“This kind of thing is not good for the sport.
“Sport is only interesting if everyone plays to the same rules.
“The diffuser issue is the equivalent of a 100m race in which some runners start 10m in front of the rest of the field.
“The result would be meaningless.”
If the ICA does reject the four teams' appeals next Tuesday then the rest of the grid will face a race against time to redesign their cars to incorporate the two-step diffusers.
Theissen says the continuing uncertainty over their legality has meant that BMW has had to get work on its own version underway.
But he says teams that have not been running the controversial designs will struggle to catch up given the head start the "diffuser gang" have had in optimising their performance.
“We have, of course, been forced to start developing a similar solution,” said Theissen.
“The teams without the so-called double diffuser must retro-fit their cars in order to be competitive, and this cannot be done in one fell swoop.
“The trio already racing with this solution will also continue to develop.
“We must assume that there is still potential for plenty of improvements in this sensitive area.”
Theissen added that the unexpected development push has only served to increase budgets again, while at the same time negating one of the intended effects of the sport’s technical overhaul.
“It goes without saying that this torpedoes the cost reductions we were striving towards,” he said.
“Another aspect is safety.
“The aim of the new aerodynamic regulations was to reduce cornering speeds.
“The double diffuser means these speeds are even higher than they were last year.”
After having its original protest against the controversial diffusers in Melbourne thrown out on a technicality, BMW officially lodged its displeasure at the designs by protesting against the three teams last weekend.
Theissen confirmed that the protest was designed to ensure that the results from both the Sepang race and the season-opener will be taken into account at next Tuesday’s appeal hearing.
“It is purely a formal matter,” he said.
“It is intended to ensure that the result in Malaysia is also taken into consideration in the judge’s decision in the appeal proceedings on 14th April."
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