If Formula One is to follow the familiar habit of shooting itself spectacularly in the foot then the sport’s appeal court, sitting in Paris on Tuesday, will declare the winning car from the first two grands prix to be illegal. Brawn, along with Williams and Toyota, have been challenged by rival teams who did not appear to be so crafty when reading the 2009 technical regulations and failed to spot a design loophole exploited by, it is no coincidence, the three teams that have set the early pace. Since the defendants have already received tacit approval of the controversial but clever diffusers at the rear of their cars, it would be a surprise if the FIA went against their own officials.
If they did, it would be another disaster heaped upon a sport in danger of suffocating from a surfeit of drama and nonsense that has little to do with the actual racing. But, while Jenson Button’s wins in Australia and Malaysia are likely to stand, there is every chance that the FIA World Motor Sport Council may emerge from a subsequent meeting on 29 April with smoke curling from both barrels after splattering McLaren’s reputation around the governing body’s grand surroundings in Place de la Concorde…Â Details