Zoom BMW will be sporting its own new diffuser soon

BMW Sauber on Thursday finally announced it has formally dropped its protest against the legality of the rear diffusers used by the Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams.

Prior to last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, the FIA's Court of Appeal said the controversial aerodynamic concepts were fully legal following the protest and appeals of the Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull teams filed during the season-opening week-end in Australia.

BMW's similar protest, also lodged in Australia, was thrown out on a technicality; the German team therefore protested again in Malaysia.

It meant the Swiss-based camp could theoretically have requested another hearing of the Court of Appeal in order to present its case, despite other previously anti-diffuser teams including Renault and McLaren now using and developing their own diffuser concepts at races.

"We withdrew the protest yesterday," BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen is quoted by the German press as having said in Bahrain on Thursday.

"We do not believe the result would be different if we had another appeal," he added.

Last week-end, the Williams team's Technical Director Sam Michael considered the possibility of BMW Sauber returning to the Court of Appeal in order to essentially repeat what had been said before might simply result in a waste of time for all concerned, as well as angering the FIA.

"I would say that if they wanted to take that protest again they would run a very high risk of getting charged with being frivolous," Michael had said in Shanghai.

D.B. © CAPSIS International
Source: GMM