The double diffuser row that dominated the early stages of the 2009 season could make a fun-filled reappearance in 2010, with rumours spreading that some Formula One teams have gone even more aggressive on their new designs.
The 2009 season saw the Toyota, Brawn GP and Williams teams protested over the "double decker" designs of their rear diffusers, with other F1 teams arguing that the designs were illegal. But the FIA ruled them as being within the rules, and the other seven teams were forced to play a costly game of catch-up.
The two 2010 cars launched so far, McLaren's MP4-25 and Ferrari's F10, have covered their diffusers up during the launch to prevent their new designs being photographed, and some are now fearing that the teams have exploited the rule loophole to an even greater extent this year, with protests over the designs possible in the weeks ahead.
Speaking at the launch of the McLaren car today, engineering director Paddy Lowe admitted that the new design was "extreme", but suggested that most teams will have adopted a similar approach.
"This is the first car in which we have had a clean sheet of paper to really exploit the interpretation [of diffusers] that was developed last year for a design of floors," Lowe explained to the press, "You will see we have produced a fairly extreme incarnation of that but we won't be alone in that. We believe you will see some pretty extreme solutions on our competitors' cars as well."
Lowe did suggest, though, that he felt the current rules were "clear", and there would be no issues with any diffuser designs this year.
"We think the interpretation is very clear," he smiled, "In certain aspects we have sought guidance from the FIA and they have come out with very clear interpretation, understanding and guidance - and we think that has been made available to all the teams.
"We are hoping for a much cleaner start to the season then we had a year ago in terms of the teams' collective understanding of the basis from which we go racing."
Not everyone agrees with Lowe's reading of the situation though. Ferrari's technical director Aldo Costa voiced concerns at the Ferrari launch yesterday, suggesting that other "interpretations" of the current rules worried him.
"We were and still are convinced that the double diffuser concept was illegal," Costa rambled, "We feel there may still be interpretation over this, as the rules leave the door open to many possibilities. It's up to the FIA to supervise, but we are rather worried."
Piero Ferrari, son of Ferrari founder Enzo, sniped that: "I expect a Ferrari worthy of the title, unless someone interprets the rules differently."
The controversial double decker designs are set to be banned in time for the 2011 season, in an effort to mitigate the effect that the complicated designs have had on overtaking, but this year teams will again be allowed to use double decker systems.
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