From that point on, the championship big guns did two things. First, they started putting even more money into developing a similar device that would get them on top of the grid, and secondly, they started developing the 2010 car from mid-season on. Needless to say, the rear diffuser caused a reset in F1 hierarchies, turning the “small teams” into title contenders.
In an effort to reduce this kind of situations in the future, but also to cut the extra level of downforce created by those devices, the Formula One teams are reportedly planning to ban them completely in 2011. British publication Autosport claims the Technical Working Group of the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) already discussed it during their last meeting in December and will shortly announce a new set of rules aimed at banning the double diffuser for good.
“The teams want to create regulations that require the floor to be a continuous section if taken through a longitudinal or lateral plane – which if achieved will get rid of the 'slots' in the floor that have made the double diffuser concept work,” said the report from Autosport.
The same report shows that, if the rules will indeed be worked upon to ban the double diffuser, the cars will consequently lap one second slower than in 2009.
However, it is yet to find out whether all the teams will agree to this rule change, especially since most of them have already designed the 2010 car – likely the predecessor of the 2011 one – with the double diffuser included. Having to change all that back to “continuous floor” would again set the base for a new hierarchization inside the series, as the entire design of the rear of the car – also gearbox and suspension – will have to be worked all over again.
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