Diffuser case: McLaren joins the battle

The FIA has confirmed that McLaren has officially joined the group protesting against the diffusers of the Brawn GP, Williams, and Toyota teams. The Woking team will therefore be present at the FIA Court of Appeal hearing on April 14th.

Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Renault have been involved in the movement since the beginning of the protest regarding the legality of the double diffuser on the BGP001, FW31, and TF109. This was deemed legal by the track stewards at the Australian Grand Prix.

In addition to these three teams, BMW-Sauber announced last week that it will take part in the hearing. Today, it is McLaren’s turn to do the same. The somewhat unbalanced match will therefore pit 5 teams against 3 teams out of a total of 10 teams in Formula 1!

The three teams at the center of the dispute have long insisted that their designs were fully compliant with regulations, despite complaints from their competitors.

Patrick Head, co-owner of Williams, stated in Malaysia last week that his rivals were unhappy because they hadn’t thought of using this type of diffuser themselves.

« From our point of view, the regulations are very well defined, and we are happy about it. The TWG (Technical Working Group) has spent a great deal of time on every detail of the regulation. »

These were not written by the FIA but drafted by the teams.

The English team has however stated that even while being present at the Council, it will not speak and will let the other 4 opposing teams debate the legal rules.