But the issue I have is why they decided this mid season. It seems a little suspicious timing to me. They were using off-throttle blown diffuses in 2010.
I don't buy the argument of banning them as a movable movable aerodynamic device, as the same could be said about hot blown diffusers, when the driver is on throttle, which apparently is legal?
Because the FIA were fine with how the engine maps were implemented at the start of the season/last season, but have felt the extremes the teams have gone too are going too far.
What the "extremes" and what "too far" are we don't know, but this is what Charlie Whiting has said - that they didn't like where this particular development was going. Presumably safety grounds or "spirit of the rules" are the reason.
Why do the FIA ban things mid-season? Because they can, because its somewhat their job to - to govern the sport's regulations. I agree that its a little tiresome to constantly re-write the rules mid-season but this is kind of necessary in this sport because its so technical. Its almost impossible to write regulations that can account for every single possile scenario while keeping them open. The FIA do want to promote technological development, but in what they consider the "right" way or in the "right" direction. This naturally means re-writing the rule book when the teams develop things outside the "spirit of the rules" or in a way the FIA doesn't like.
After so many seasons of this, I'm really not bothered about it. People say it stops creativity and innovation, but the teams always find new (or rather old) ways of finding performance and loopholes. Its an endless cycle which happens every year, and every year there is always fans complaining about it, usually fans of whichever team is winning and might be disadvantaged by it.
By the way, the whole blown diffusers concept is supposedly going to be banned by the team's request for next year I think on the same principles. So yes, the moveable aero argument does apply both ways, but altering engine maps is easier than altering the whole rear-end of the cars (or in the Renault's case - a completely new car almost).
There is also, of course, an element of paddock politics going on I imagine. As I have said before on this topic - Cosworth have struggled to implement the engine maps required for off-throttle blown diffusers (indeed, they are rather lacking on electronic engine management). Its quite likely some teams or Cosworth themselves have complained about it and made the suggestion it is moveable aero.
I've got a good feeling. We've had 2 bad races and 1 good one, and Kobayashi really showed us what he could do here. However this is my favourite pass here and I've linked it many times on these forums.
