Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn has said that he has accepted the legality of the McLaren team's new rear wing arrangement, and are already preparing to adapt the design onto their own W01 cars as soon as possible.
The new 'F-duct' system, which involves the driver controlling the flow of air through the cockpit and over the rear wing with their knees, which helps to 'stall' the rear wing and increase the car's straight line speed, was ruled as legal by the FIA scrutineers on Thursday.
But during the Friday practice sessions, Renault manager Bob Bell refused to rule out a protest against the McLaren system, with speculation suggesting a post-race protest from one or more of their rivals based on the slightly amusing reason that the use of the driver's knee would mean the driver would constitute an illegal "movable aerodynamic device".
But the FIA are believed to have discredited that argument by saying that the driver cannot be treated as a moving part of the car.
And Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn, who saw his own team embroiled in the double diffuser row last season, has suggested that his team will now focus on developing their own version of the device.
"We will have to get on and make our own version of it now," Brawn shrugged at Bahrain today, "It wasn't clear what the situation was, but we have had clarity from the FIA about how they want to treat it, so we are all off running in that direction."
He added that the closer attention given to the system this weekend had allowed the Mercedes team to understand the process behind the system in more detail.
"We had an idea that they were doing it - we didn't understand how they were doing it. But now we do," he smiled knowingly.
But despite Brawn's laid-back attitude, Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne got properly irate over the prospect of doing some work to make his own version of the 'F-duct'.
"I still believe it's a moveable aerodynamic device because the configuration of the [car's] aerodynamics are changing," he moaned to anyone who would listen in Bahrain.
"Whether the driver is doing with it his knee or not, they [the aerodynamics] are not the same all the time so therefore it must be a moveable aero device.
"We know what the rules are...but it is a pretty silly interpretation."
He added that the new rush by other teams to develop their own systems will be costly and pointless, saying: "Everyone is going to go and do it, no one will have an advantage, we will go and spend loads of money – and for what? It will be worth two or three tenths, everyone will go and get it – so it is a complete waste of time. Vintage F1!"
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