Diffuser appeal rejected, confirmed to be within the rules

[Houser]

I am happy for the outcome. I applaud the engineers for thinking outside the box. This is a great move for F1, looking forward to the creativeness.

[gcdugas]

I think the biggest issue was that the OWG, that outlined the new regulations was composed by top technical responsibles from some of the top teams, and they designed the diffuser as they intended it to be, given their studies on the wind tunnel, in order to facilitate overtaking. It would have seemed dishonest for one of them to present a different concept in the start of the season, exploiting a loophole he was responsible for.

I'm all for clever interpretation of the regulations, but this decision smells like mainly political. It's the first time, in many years, the FIA decides against the "spirit of the rules". Compared with the mass damper ruling (the most absurd ever, in my opinion), the contrast is stark...

I put a lot of stock in the "spirit of the rules". But you must admit that Brawn did approach the teams with an effort to tidy up the regs a year ago and they declined. Also Toyota worked hand in hand with the FIA inquiring at every juncture about the matter. If it was questionable, those questions were answered by the FIA way back then during the conceptual stages. How could the FIA rule against Toyota after they walked them through the development at all stages?

The other teams should have started the development of their diffusers 5 minutes after the first Williams and Toyota were unveiled and had them ready for Melbourne.

The only thing political about all this is the tardiness of the FIA to rule on the matter when it first arose in January. I have said why I think it was purposefully done earlier in this thread.

I fully agree that the mass damper mess was absurd and have invoked it as a chief transgression of the FIA many times. What can possibly be "moveable aero" about something within the bodywork?

[enkidu]

I think the biggest issue was that the OWG, that outlined the new regulations was composed by top technical responsibles from some of the top teams, and they designed the diffuser as they intended it to be, given their studies on the wind tunnel, in order to facilitate overtaking. It would have seemed dishonest for one of them to present a different concept in the start of the season, exploiting a loophole he was responsible for.

I'm all for clever interpretation of the regulations, but this decision smells like mainly political. It's the first time, in many years, the FIA decides against the "spirit of the rules". Compared with the mass damper ruling (the most absurd ever, in my opinion), the contrast is stark...

I think mass dampers and a slight raised defusser are complete different things...

The FIA wanted to move back to more under body downforce as they know it does not effect overtaking like rear wings. I strongly believe they left this loophole on purpose as everyone likes to see some competition between teams and as most other items are banned. Why not!!

[pipex]

I'm happy with the outcome of the appeal, this only confirms that some innovations can be made and that clever designs are the way to go. I hope that "spirit of the rules" thing doesn't exist. Now, let's see the other teams play catch up...

Any news about the reasons for the ruling that the ICA has done?
I think that it will be an interesting read...

[nae]

'spirit of the rules' hmm

the rules are written in words and its the wording of the rules that are important.
and that can then be dissected, english is often used becuase of its apparently finite definition and its implied vagueness.

'urban myth example'
the rules of engagement for the British squadie in northern Ireland
stated that a solider must shout out before firing

the initial wording (apparently) was that they must shout out

'stop or I shoot' three times

this was then interpreted as (apparently)

'stop or i shoot 3 times'

now written as

'stop or I shoot' 'stop or I shoot' 'stop or I shoot'

to avoid confusion


spirit of the rule is complete hokum and refers to the mind of the writer
not what was actually written

[xpensive]

Right, the gamble paid off, why I guess they will call it a Honda again within soon.

[timbo]

The only thing political about all this is the tardiness of the FIA to rule on the matter when it first arose in January. I have said why I think it was purposefully done earlier in this thread.

Funny how you see FIA being political in liegate

[Conceptual]

And the river of tears continues...

I think it is great that these were deemed legal. It shows that brilliance can overcome whining, even in a politically biased field.

Those expecting a run-away season by a single team are being melodramatic. Remember, there are 3 teams with these diffusors, not 1, and the others will catch up soon.

I, for one, am disappointed to see the whining continue after this ruling, especially since it is being done by fans of the talent defficient diffusor teams.

I'm sure that McLaren and Ferrari will actually welcome this ruling, since it will give them the downforce that they are seriously lacking.

At the end of the day, this will actually make 2009 a better season, and will allow the 2010 cars to be EVEN BETTER!

[ESPImperium]

Sence has prevailed.

Its gonna be one hellva intresting season now, especially if the diffuser 3 develop their cars at a rapid pace, and how fast the non-diffuser teams can develop and modify their designs accordingly, whilst developing other areas of the car.

I predict that BMW Sauber will have a double or triple deck diffuser the other 7 teams, then Force India, who will spill to McLaren, i think the Red Bull/STR design will be the last design to incorperate the new design as i think that they may have to go back to a push rod suspension for that design, thus compromising the cars entire rear design.

[xpensive]

I here that Adrian Newey is now working around the clock with a new multi-blade diffuser called "fusion",
the fifth blade starting somewhere at Wunderkind's hips.

[mikhak]

On the face of it i'm happy that still in F1 its possible to outwit the competition and be creative. Its good to see a clever idea raising a team from the back to the front. Well done to Brawn, Toyota and Williams and also to them Super Aguri people who i believe started off this Brawn GP car.
On the other hand i cant help but feel if this was mclaren and ferrari with these clever diffusers there'd be no way the FIA would expect the smaller teams to completely redesign the back end of their cars after only 2 races. (I wonder how Force India will fair.) I think alot of people including the FIA are enjoying this fairytale of Brawn GP where the image of this little independent team coming from nowhere to dominate F1 is pushed. It'll be interesting to see whether they can continue the development to keep ahead.
And as for the inconvenience of waiting for until now for the hearing well it's only the protesting teams that can be blamed for that. The FIA's view at the beginning of february was that the diffusers were legal, the australian gp stewards deemed them legal, even Max mosley said he thought they were legal. It was the teams desire to bring it to the ICA that delayed everything. And you can only make an official protest at an event and i'm sure that rule was there for many years.

Interestingly on the FIA website it says:
"The FIA International Court of Appeal may take into account its previous rulings but it is not legally bound to follow them. Each case is decided strictly upon its own merits."

So no need to worry about setting a precadent of getting rid of the spirit of the rules because consistency with past or future decisions is entirely up to the ICA.

[noname]

(...) FIA decides against the "spirit of the rules" (...)

rules are important, not the "spirit of the rules". btw, what does it mean "spirit of the rules" ?

if they (FIA) really wanted to ban DDD diffusers they had the chance to write the rulebook properly. questionable designs comply with regulation. that was confirmed before the season by FIA consultants, in Melbourne, Sepang and now. end of the story.

[Tom Castellani]

Looking at some of the other team's comments, they act so convinced it's illegal yet if they had thought of it they would be defending like mad. They're bitter that theirs isn't as good, simple as that.

The real kicker is that the so called dominance isn't any more than Ferrari and McLaren had in recent years so apparently now performance advantages in the sport are disgusting... Unless it's a red car. Ferrari are way too used to fixing things by throwing money at it.

[Ian P.]

'spirit of the rules' hmm

the rules are written in words and its the wording of the rules that are important.

I still can't come to grips with the concept that supposedly "intelligent" folks are upset at a violation of "The Spirit Of The Rules".
Any preamble outlining the "Spirit Of The Rules" carries no meaning or weight when the specific wording of the rules allows something different.

Maybe the FIA should avoid publishing anything in future that refers to "The Spirit" of anything. Similar to them saying ...."We will mandate 2.4 L V-8s so the teams can save money.....".

I suppose "The Spirit of The Rules" also contains wording to the effect..."in order to maintain the current pecking order within F1...".

[vall]

I think many of the DDD supporters miss the point. The "spirit of the rules" is not something vague as they want to convince us. It is a will defined thing: The goals of the OWG were well defined: reduce the DF by 40%, reduce the turbulence behind the car, etc. And all the changes agreed with the team and FIA were meant to achieve that. What happens now is that 3 teams are exploiting a grey area in the regs to get the same DF levels as before, etc. So, yes, what they did goes again what the rules were meant to achieve. And FIA should have stopped them back in January.