F1 appeal rules in Brawn's favourMotorsport's governing body has ruled the Brawn GP car, which has taken Briton Jenson Button to two wins this season, is legal.A panel heard eight hours of strongly worded evidence on Tuesday after complaints that Brawn, Toyota and Williams, use an illegal diffuser.
And the five International Court of Appeal judges said the designs "comply with the applicable regulations".
All three teams are free to race in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
Brawn GP currently lead the constructors' world championship with 25 points, with Toyota in second place on 16 points.
A Toyota statement issued immediately after the ruling said: "Our team studied the wording of the new 2009 regulations in precise detail to ensure we interpreted them correctly.
"We also made full use of the consultation procedure with the FIA which was a helpful process to ensure our interpretation of the technical regulations was correct.
"Therefore we had every confidence that the design of our car would be confirmed as legal, firstly by race stewards in Australia and Malaysia and subsequently by the Court of Appeal."
The judges in Paris heard evidence from both sides, with Ferrari's legal representative, Nigel Tozzi QC, describing Brawn GP team boss Ross Brawn as "a person of supreme arrogance".
Brawn defended himself robustly and insisted his team's diffuser was simply "an innovative approach of an existing idea".
And Brawn's criticism of Ferrari consultant Rory Bryne and Red Bull technical guru Adrian Newey saw sparks fly in the courtroom, with the Englishman refusing to retract his statements.
FIA technical director Charlie Whiting was also grilled, with accusations that his organisation are "getting it wrong, and not understanding the point".
The row broke out when Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull protested against the legality of the split-level diffusers on the eve of the season-opening grand prix in Australia, but race stewards in Melbourne rejected their claims.
BMW Sauber then had a similar protest rejected at the Malaysian Grand Prix while McLaren have recently added their weight to the official protest.
Speaking from outside FIA headquarters in Paris on Tuesday, BBC sports news reporter Joe Wilson said: "Rear diffusers this season were supposed to get smaller, but Brawn and a couple of other teams have ended up with bigger ones, exploiting a little loophole in the laws.
"An independent panel of judges, looking at things with a legal mind, may just uphold this appeal - though there will be widespread surprise, if not shock, if Brawn end up losing their points this season."
The protesting teams say the split-level design contravenes a rule that states the diffuser - an aerodynamic body part which aids performance - must have an upper edge that runs in a horizontal straight line.
They also believe the design is negating the main aim of this season's new rule changes, which is to make overtaking easier.
The split-level diffusers generate more downforce at the rear of the car, resulting in a clear performance advantage of around 0.5 seconds per lap.
With the FIA's ruling, the seven teams who are running without the split-level diffusers are expected to try to incorporate the design into their cars as soon as possible.
Setting about such a radical redesign with the season under way will not be easy.
Many of the teams running with regular diffusers argue the cost of making the changes is too great, especially during a climate of cost-cutting within the sport in the face of the global economic crisis.
"I've heard several of them complaining about the cost," said Brawn before the verdict.
"But there are lots of things teams copy from each other and the cost doesn't get debated.
"I think some teams will be able to do it very quickly, but for other teams it will be more difficult because of their suspension configuration or other elements of the car."
©
BBC Sport | Formula1