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FIA happy with exhaust solutions

Red Bull's new exhaust layout was the centre of attention at the final test in Barcelona © Sutton Images

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The FIA is satisfied that all of the exhaust solutions on the grid are legal according to the latest regulations.

The practice of off-throttle diffuser blowing was banned at the end of 2011 with the FIA moving to define the exit points of the exhausts. While teams have continued to use the gases to energise other parts of the rear of the car, head of the F1 technical department Charlie Whiting has confirmed that all of the solutions that have been adopted by the teams so far are within the regulations.

"There has been a little bit of discussion in general, and most of that discussion centres on different interpretations of the new regulations," Whiting said. "As you know last year there was a very simple regulation, which just required that each car had no more than two exhaust exits. This year there's a whole page on it and it's designed specifically to ensure any aerodynamic effect from the exhaust is incidental to its primary purpose. Obviously engineers have had different interpretations on that.

"All of the systems we've seen so far comply with the extensive new regulations so our position is simple: we are not in a position to be able to say exactly how much aerodynamic influence each individual system has. The aim of the new regulation was to ensure that we don't have to do that. We have no idea how much aerodynamic influence each individual system has, nor really at this point is it anything that interests us. As long as they comply with the rules, we are happy. And as far as we've seen so far, they all do comply with the rules."

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