So now it's ok to chastise someone for 'cheating' when in actual fact they determine the legality of their own parts using the general scrutineering tests they would have during a race weekend. Good one. It's not the team's fault if the system is flawed.
Furthermore (and regardless of this above point) there is a difference between cheating and using a loophole in the system. 'Cheating in a clever manner' is exploiting a loophole, which is exactly the same as the double diffuser last season.
F1 has a long and storied history of too clever engineers finding wiggle room in sloppily-written regulations, and the sport is the better for it. Like the 6-wheeled Tyrell P-34 (four front tyres), and the Brabham BT46B ‘Fan car’ which had ground effects by means of an engine-driven fan [s]ucking it to the track. Sometimes the innovation subsequently is banned (like the Brabham, which was outlawed after winning its inaugural race), sometimes it leads F1 in a new direction, and occasionally it rewrites the record book.
Colin Chapman introduced the raised rear wing with the Lotus 49B. The FIA decided it wasn't in keeping with the spirit of the rules so they banned it. Chapman responded with the Lotus 49C and an improved wing that was mounted close enough to the chassis to skirt the new FIA rule but still provide superior downforce. The multi-element rear wing of the 49C has more than a passing resemblance to the rear wing of today's F1 cars.
The classic example of this "loophole hunting" comes not from F1 but from, of all places, NASCAR. All his competitors agreed that legendary tuner Smokey Yunick's cars simply went too far on a single tank of fuel. So they complained
en masse to the stewards, who summoned Smokey's car for a tech inspection. They removed the fuel tank from the car and placed on the inspection bench. When finished, they told Smokey they had found "X" number of irregularities with his car (the exact number is in dispute) but his fuel tank was not among them;
it was legal.
Upon which Smokey got in the car, told them, "Well, boys, here's one more" and he started the car and drove away with his fuel tank still sitting on the inspection bench.
NASCAR's rules prescribed a flexible 2" fuel hose running from the tank to the carburettor. What they failed to codify was how long that hose could be. So Smokey used an 11-foot long coil of fuel hose that snaked through the chassis and wound around the frame's rails that held 19 litres of petrol, independent of the fuel tank!
F1's TRs by their nature inhibit innovation. Can you imagine how pathetic the sport would be if the geniuses who build these marvelous cars were as unimaginative as the small-minded twits who write those regulations? The designers have to exploit the chinks in the armor or the sport will stagnate, wither on the vine, and die.
