Ex-Formula One driver turned pundit David Coulthard is confident that the controversial double-decker diffuser design on the Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota cars will be declared legal at next Tuesday’s FIA International Court of Appeal hearing in Paris.
“I am not an engineer, so I have to rely on the judgement of the FIA technical people,” Coulthard told Austria’s Laola1. “They said in Melbourne that the cars were legal, and I think the FIA will confirm that judgement on the fourteenth (this coming Tuesday).”
Coulthard expects the other seven teams, including his former team Red Bull Racing, to develop similar diffuser designs in light of the enquiry.
“The other seven teams are probably going to have to change their cars,” he said. “Doing this may be expensive for them with the economic crisis, but it does not mean that the diffusers are illegal.”
“You shouldn’t necessarily be punished because you have interpreted the rules differently, and thus taken an advantage; those three teams also spent money to develop their aerodynamics, so that money would also be wasted (if the devices are classed as illegal and therefore banned).”
“Formula One is not just about saving money, it is also a championship!” the 13-time race winner quickly added.