FIA says new F-ducts, exhausts all legal

It did not take long for F1’s first technical controversy of the 2012 race season to erupt.

Asked about Mercedes’ F-duct system that reportedly works in conjunction with the deployment of DRS, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: “Are they allowed?”

The FIA’s Charlie Whiting says yes.  “I cannot see a rule that prohibits it,” he said.

“What is not allowed is the movement of the driver to generate an aerodynamic effect,” he is quoted by Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo.

So at least for now, the other teams will have to react, amid talk the concept is worth several kilometres per hour in a straight line.

“We’ll have to have a look at it,” confirmed Horner.

But according to BBC analyst and former F1 designer Gary Anderson, Red Bull and Ferrari – and maybe others – have reacted already.

They “appear to have a different system and I’m struggling to understand how it complies with the rules”, he said.

“I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this subject”, Anderson added.

Also legal for now are all the teams’ different interpretations of the new exhaust rules — even the controversial Red Bull’s.

“As far as we’ve seen so far, they all do comply with the rules,” confirmed Whiting.

© RIF | GMM