Brawn GP wins diffuser row

Brawn GP wins the verdict at the FIA hearing on the F1 diffuser row

Well, Ross Brawn said from the start that the rear diffuser on the Brawn GP car was legal. The man knows his stuff, and has the ability to interpret the regulations to suit his cause, and the FIA has today ruled that he’s right. So Brawn and Jenson Button’s wins stand, the cars are legal  (as are those of Williams and Toyota) and the rest of the F1 teams are going to have to play catch-up very quickly if they’re going to have a chance this year.

The decision by the FIA’s ruling body, after eight hours of discussion, leaves the cars free to race in Shanghai this weekend, and no doubt brought some big grimaces to the faces of those teams who believed they had complied with the spirit of the rules by using much smaller diffusers.

The reality is that the diffuser issue probably gives those teams using it a 0.5 seconds a lap advantage. In F1 terms that is huge, but it has to be recognised that Brawn GP would still be mixing it with the big boys even without the contentious diffuser. With it, they were wiping the floor with the opposition.

So now it’s catch-up for the other teams, with World Champions McLaren desperate to make any sort of mark this year and Ferrari having one of the worst starts to the season for many years, there’s going to be some serious time and money spent to get competitive.

It’s highly unlikely any of the teams will have time before Shanghai to update the cars (unless they’d done a belt-and-braces move in anticipation of the decision) so it looks like Shanghai could be another re-run for the boys from Brackley.

Not surprisingly, Ross Brawn had something to say:

“We are pleased with the decision reached by the International Court of Appeal
today. We respect the right of our competitors to query any design or concept used on our cars through the channels available to them. The FIA Technical Department, the Stewards at the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix and now five judges at the International Court of Appeal have confirmed our belief that our cars have always strictly complied with the 2009 Technical Regulations.

The decision of the International Court of Appeal brings this matter to its conclusion and we look forward to continuing on the track the challenge of what has been a very exciting start to the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship.”

It’s going to be an interesting F1 season!