News and stories surrounding the controversial diffusers have been dying off of late waiting for the appeal to be heard, but it remains a huge part of Formula 1 this season. I have talked about the diffusers more than once and now I’m doing it again. There are a number of questions that come to my mind that I’d like to share and they don’t involve legal mumbo jumbo or technical issues, they revolve around fans like me, the drivers themselves, and cost.

We don’t hear too much from the drivers when asked their thoughts on the issue. Questions posed to them are carefully crafted as are the answers they give, so each time a driver is asked their feelings about the diffuser controversy inevitably the answer is always the same. Something like ‘the teams are looking into it and we will do our best on the track to win races, that’s what we do’.

From a fan point of view it’s great for the fans who are entirely focused on their favorite team or driver that just happens to be driving a car with one of the special diffusers. Quite frankly the diffuser that Brawn GP uses has had a substantial influence (not the only influence so don’t jump all over me) on the revival of Jenson Button’s career that was all but in the basement prior to driving this car. Fans are flocking to Jenson and writers are saying things like now he can showcase his talent and win the races this likable guy deserves. To a certain extent I go for that and having been a fan of Button for a his entire Formula 1 career I am delighted he’s finally getting recognition. I’m also delighted for Toyota and Williams for being able to showcase their cars and drivers as well and finally be able to challenge for grand prix wins.

This brings me to one of my points. How does Jenson Button or anyone driving one of the diffuser cars really feel about their performance compared to who they are competing against. Does Jenson Button cherish his race wins as much as he would if he had a more level playing field. I can be certain that every Formula 1 driver wants to defeat his competition fair and square. Is that what is happening now? I can also be sure that every driver out there who feels their car is competitive with a ‘normal’ diffuser would love to get up there with Brawn GP and fight out a race win on a playing field not marred by controversy.

Until this issue is resolved and for some time afterward Brawn GP just might monopolize grand prix wins and is this what Formula 1 is all about? There is the appeal on April 14 that most of us agree will once again find the diffusers legal. Where then does that leave Formula 1 then?

The other point I want to ad is cost. This topic is very complicated when looking at it closely and it all has to do with the economic times we are which in F1 is also linked to the need to win races or at least be competitive for sponsors already suffering financially. BMW Sauber, one of the teams with a standard diffuser has to be accountable to it’s sponsors who have come aboard with large sums of money in order to get great exposure through a competitive team. The diffuser issue has to be frustrating sponsors of all teams losing out simply because they weren’t as creative with the regulations.

It doesn’t end there. The FIA and FOTA have been working hard, each with their own ideas on how to cut costs both for the survival of Formula 1 and to have more competition on the track. Only a month or so after new rules and definitive cost cutting measure were hammered out do we have a situation once again that is already driving the costs up. Weather the April 14 diffuser appeal will rule in their favor or not is irrelevant at the moment because in the mean time any teams wanting to be able to compete are forced into doing a complete overhaul of their cars in order to accommodate a new diffuser. Prior to the begining of the season when the new cost cutting measures were layed out and budgets drawn up, certainly nothing was written into budgets allowing for a complete car overhaul. How are the smaller budget teams going to be able to deal with blowing their budgets and how are the auto manufacturers, some already unsure of their viability in F1 going to react?

This has been on my mind as an F1 fan from the beginning and it has gotten me a little worried about the future of F1 as I know and like it. I was fairly comfortable with what FOTA had come up with in cost savings under the constant threat of teams pulling out and Max Mosley gaining leverage with his idea of standardized engines. Now I feel we have a new threat stirring up my fears once again and solving this threat has got to become a high level priority. I was finally motivated to write it after reading what Mario Theissen had to say today:

“Sport is only interesting if everyone plays to the same rules.

“We have, of course, been forced to start developing a similar solution,”

“The teams without the so-called double diffuser must retrofit their cars in order to be competitive, and this cannot be done in one fell swoop.

“It goes without saying that this torpedoes the cost reductions we were striving towards,