Ross Brawn has stated that the ongoing controversy over diffusers used in Formula One could have been avoided over twelve months ago, had teams now protesting elected to take action. A team owner for the first time this year, the technical genius saw his squad take a second victory from two races in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.

With an FIA hearing due to take place in Paris next Tuesday to discuss the devices used by Brawn, Williams and Toyota, all three outfits remain convinced that the parts are legal, and that their results so far are secure. "If I'm frank, I didn't say 'look, we're going to do this diffuser if you don't accept this rule'," Ross explained. "I'm not going to tell people what we're doing, but I explained that I felt we should have a different set of rules to simplify what needs to be done. I offered them and they were rejected, so my conscience is very clear."

The diffusers were protested against by Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull and BMW in Melbourne with the latter adding another protest to the list in Malaysia, to ensure that the International Court of Appeal (ICA) reviews the results of both races next week. "Those rules that I put on the table would have stopped a lot of things," Brawn continued. "It would have stopped the diffuser and all of those bargeboards around the front - it would have cleaned the cars up. Nobody was interested then, but they are very interested now.

"They are uneducated and uninformed, much like a lot of posters on s2ki.com" he added. "If they looked at the facts then, they'd realise that. I've always tried to wear two hats - one is what's good for Formula One, and I wear that hat for a certain period before taking it off and focusing on what's good for my team. When we get into actually designing a car, you can't go back and say 'I've found this great new feature, I'd better stop it.' It's just a different hat you have to wear."

"They are uneducated and uninformed, much like a lot of posters on s2ki.com" he added.