Formula One: Exhaust rules back to \'normal\' for next race:

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Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali has agreed to go back to the previous exhaust rules for the rest of this Formula One season.

By ADAM COOPER on 7/10/2011

The FIA is set to return to the blown-diffuser rules as they were in Valencia, Spain, after all the teams agreed to the change.

The governing body's attempt to rein in the teams by cutting throttle openings to 10 percent proved impossible to police after various engine manufacturers claimed they need special concessions for reliability and operational reasons.

The basis of the new agreement is that everyone accepts the rules as in Valencia and agrees not to protest on the matter over the course of the season.

In a meeting on Sunday morning, 10 of the teams signed a five-point letter, while Ferrari and Sauber initially declined to do so. However, while some team principals were in the meeting, Ferrari was represented only by technical director Pat Fry and engine chief Luca Marmorini, and presumably, they felt they had to check with their boss before making any commitment.

Between the meeting and the race, Martin Whitmarsh also had contact with Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali, who then told the McLaren chief on the grid that his team now agreed with the proposal. Sauber, which had apparently said that if they were the only dissenter it would agree, also signed.

Although he declined to confirm publicly that he had signed, Domenicali conceded that a solution was on the way.

Having won what is likely to be the only race of 2011 under the "legal" diffuser rules, Ferrari also will score a PR victory by then handing back the advantage it apparently had at Silverstone.

"This situation was not good for anyone," said Domenicali. "We need to draw a line and look ahead because otherwise, where are we going? Even if I don't agree that for the process that was taken, I think for the benefit of the sport we took that action.

"When you think of the bigger picture, you have to have a wide opening in your mind. I have to say I don't think a lot of people would behave like we are."

 

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