Controversy has sprung up around the brand new Williams and Toyota diffusers. Bad for those naughty pair of teams, but good for the rest of us, because it temporarily distracts our attention away from the rest of the car.
Yes, mercifully, focus has shifted away from the cars bodywork to the diffusers at the rear of the undertray. As the vomit ceased to flow several rival engineers to Williams and Toyota noticed that the rear ends on those cars seemed overly large, they liked them and they can't deny. According to somebody with more technical know-how than Patty, the diffusers "appear to exceed the maximum height of 175 mm at their peak through clever aerodynamic shaping of the rear crash structure." Which sounds a bit horny.
A mad scramble to Charlie Whiting's doorstep seems likely as Ferrari, BMW, McLaren and Renault start finger pointing and fist shaking, all while madly doodling their own retooled diffusers with their left hands which are placed strangely behind their backs.
Top Renault boffin Pat Symonds bleated out "They (the diffusers) are certainly interesting, although I don't think I can comment on their legality." Which translates to "They're certainly illegal and more of a cheat than a third Schumacher startline zig-zag, but I can't condemn the device as I plan to have it on my car by the next test".
The FIA will probably allow the tweaks even though they appear to be out of the spirit of the rules, theres enough time before Melbourne for everyone to spend plenty of money to have the same wiggles at the back end. Either way, like the flexi-floor debacle from 2007 this should certainly add a bit of sting to the pre-season buildup.
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