Fernando Alonso fears this season’s Formula One world championship could be decided in court as the rear diffuser case is heard by F1’s court of appeal.
Ferrari, Renault, BMW Sauber and Red Bull faced Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota at an International Court of Appeal hearing in Paris on Tuesday morning, with a decision expected on Wednesday afternoon.
The case centres around the conceptual design of the diffuser at the rear of the cars belonging to the three defendants. If the judges deem the part is illegal, they have it within their power to overturn those two race results, potentially expunging Button’s two victories from the record books.
However, double world champion Alonso believes if the judges side with the ‘diffuser gang’, it will be difficult for any of the other seven teams to win either the drivers’ or constructors’ title.
“We’ll have to see what they (the judges) decide,” said Alonso.
“It’s a complicated issue, but the championship could be more or less decided.If the diffusers are legal, the Brawns are going to be nearly unreachable for any other team.” The major concern for Ferrari and the rest is that if they do lose, they will be forced into a radical redesign of their cars as the diffuser affects a number of areas.
“You have to work on the whole car,” explained Renault star Alonso.
“It’s not just about adding the diffuser and suddenly the car is a second quicker.
“The diffuser makes you go fast if you have a new front end, new sidepods, a new engine cover.
“You have to rebuild the whole car, and that would take a lot of months.”