Ross Brawn has confirmed reports that
Mercedes' 2012 'F-duct' will not be easily copied by rival teams. We reported on Thursday that while Red Bull and now
Ferrari worked quickly to copy
Sauber's clever exhaust solution, they are crying foul over the Mercedes F-duct. Is it because they really believe it breaks the rules, or is the system simply difficult to copy?
Red Bull designer
Adrian Newey was quoted by Brazilian O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper in Malaysia: "In regard to the aerodynamic (F) duct of the Mercedes, and sending the airflow from the back to the front, it is necessary to review the entire project." Mercedes team boss Brawn confirmed: "The opposition is so fierce (because) there's a recognition it's quite difficult to do."
He rejected the rivals' arguments about cost, however, insisting Mercedes' system consists mainly of carbon tubing costing no more than thousands of pounds. "It's a very simple, cheap system, but not so easy to implement if you haven't integrated it into your car," said the Briton. "This is at the heart of the frustration of some of our opponents. If someone could put it on their car easily, I promise you we wouldn't be having these discussions."
It emerged this week, however, that despite the FIA having consistently sided with Mercedes on the F-duct issue,
Lotus' technical boss
James Allison has come up with two new arguments that will be put to
Charlie Whiting next week in China. "We would obviously be extremely disappointed if someone was to take a different view," said Brawn. "The FIA have been fairly consistent over their position so we have faith that they'll maintain that consistency." (GMM)
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