so what happens when...
The FIA meets on April 14 to review the diffuser and throws it out?
Let's assume for a moment that Brawn has continues their charge and has racked up 3 wins 2 seconds and a third.


so what happens, other than GPMike having a seizure?

 

no, his head is going to explode

 

Depends...

If the diffuser is ruled illegal, the car is disqualified, wins lost.

If the ruling is revised to clarify the meaning (close the loophole as like the flexing floors on Ferrari, McLaren, etc), the wins stand but the design has to change.

If design is called legal, wins stand and everyone scrambles to copy...

 

It's simple: the FIA will rule whichever way benefits Ferrari the most.

 

I liked how they were talking about it would cost 30 million to R&D a new diffuser.

 

To be fair to Ferrari and that $30M quote, it's not just a matter of the R&D cost of a the diffuser... That wouldn't be so much.

The problem is that these cars are so aero sensitive that the diffuser is an integral part of the overall aero package. Just slapping a revised diffuser on there won't solve the lack of pace relative to Brawn because the rest of the aero package will be designed to work with the old diffuser. Just swapping the diffuser could in fact see a decrease in performance.

If they change the diffuser, the whole body of the car (side pods, engine cover, wing, under side, etcc...) need to be redesigned with the new diffuser's properties in mind to get the speed out of it.

 

Even if the diffusers are no longer allowed I don't see why they would take away Brawn's points. Brawn earned those points when the stewards deemed them perfectly legal.

 

The diffusers on the Brawn, Williams and Toyota are fine. Everyone knows this. The other teams are just embarrassed in terms of engineering. When you look at the the 3 teams, who are clearly amongst the class of the field, especially Toyota and Brawn, who had dismal years for the past 4-5 years, you really think the FIA is going to rule against them? Say good-bye to Toyota if that happens. In fact, I bet Toyota would pull out immediately if the diffusers were ruled illegal.

Instead, what these are, are Salem witch hunts against the diffuser teams for being smarter than the rest.

 

As if the FIA and the stewards have been reluctant to overturn results after the fact in the past two or three years?

 

Only if them call the diffusers to be contrary to the rules would they lose the wins. I don't see this happening, they might close the loophole, but I highly doubt they call it illegal.