FIA says new F-ducts, exhausts all legal

Mar.16 (GMM) It did not take long for F1's first technical controversy of the 2012 race season to erupt.

Charlie Whiting, FIA Safty delegate, Race director & offical starter

Photo by: xpb.cc

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.