Briatore unhappy with diffuser rules

Flavio Briatore

Renault boss Flavio Briatore has complained that rival teams are flouting the spirit of Formula 1’s rules with controversial diffuser designs – and warned that his team may lodge an official protest at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The governing FIA has provisionally declared the designs legal, with president Max Mosley admitting last month that some team cleverly exploited a loophole in the regulations.

Briatore, however, believes the designs defeat the intent of the rule book and has called on the FIA to clarify the situation.

“F1 must have rules that apply equally to everybody," he was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport.

“It’s not fair that certain diffusers are made one way and others in another way, because I don’t think it’s right that every team has its own rule book.

“It seems that there are two sets of regulations: those which allow certain teams to have a diffuser made in a certain way that is forbidden to others because they consider it illegal.

“That’s not what we expect.

“We want black and white rules that are the same for everybody."

Briatore said Renault did not rule out lodging a protest in Melbourne.

“We will see, because at least three teams are not respecting the regulations," he said.

“I wouldn’t want it to end up like it did with the engine freeze, where we respected it and found ourselves 50 horsepower down on the others," he said.

“This is the same story."

“We will go to Australia with some cars having KERS and others that don’t have it and that is already difficult for the public to understand," he said.