The FIA have confirmed that Formula One's increasingly tedious diffuser row will be settled once and for all (probably) in Paris's International Court of Appeal on April 14th, shortly before the third round of the 2009 season in Shanghai.
The appeal has been called for after the protest lodged by Red Bull, Ferrari and Renault was thrown out by the race stewards in Melbourne, allowing the three teams running the disputed diffusers, Brawn, Williams and Toyota, to run this weekend. The statement from the FIA detailed that the hearing will begin at 10am at the Court of Appeal in Paris.
With the surprising pace shown by the three teams in Melbourne so far, the appeal could well have a massive bearing on the championship, particularly in the first half of the season as the other teams are either forced to design their own units, or the three teams have to modify their own units.
The row between the two sides is becoming increasingly childish, with Renault boss Flavio Briatore wading in, saying that "The interpretation of the regulations was very clear in the past - the cars need less downforce for safety reasons. Correct?
"Every time we build a new car it was to be two to three seconds slower than the previous car. Correct? That was always the intention of the Federation [FIA]...But somebody was going in the downforce direction that was forbidden by the FIA, and that is not following the principles of the rules."
Meanwhile, Williams boss Patrick Head tried to insist that the renewed pace of the Williams team and it's protested brethren was down to more than just the diffuser design.
"To be put it all down to that [is wrong]- maybe the teams that were inventive enough to come up with that [the diffuser] were inventive enough in other areas of the cars," Head rumbled to Autosport, "It is like anything, if you look at that one bit, I don't think the Brawn is quick because of that one aspect."
If the hearing in Paris were to see the designs deemed illegal, the three teams would only have until that weekend to alter them in time for the Chinese Grand Prix.
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