Brawn now focused on victory

The start of the season has been overshadowed by a protest against Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota over the design of their rear diffusers, which rivals reckon is illegal.

However, the FIA stewards cleared the design on Thursday, meaning all three teams will be able to race on Sunday.

Brawn admitted he was glad his team can now focus on doing its best in the race this weekend.

"Well, we will do our best! I don't know where we will be," said Brawn. "It is nice to get it out of the way because it has been a fairly big distraction over the last 24 hours since we arrived in Melbourne and the teams confirmed they intended to protest the design - which they could not do of course until after scrutineering had finished.

"So there has been a little bit of an awkward period, and hopefully we can now focus on getting the best out of the car over the next few days."

The row, however, seems far from over, with Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull Racing confirming they will appeal the stewards' decision.

"Obviously when we came here we felt our diffuser was within the regulations, and the stewards have obviously agreed with our viewpoint," Brawn added.

"So we respect the right of our competitors to challenge the opinion of the FIA technical department, and our opinion, but obviously the stewards have understood our reasoning and confirmed that our diffuser is fully compliant with the technical regulations.

"I would like to think the matter is closed, but that is not my decision. Hopefully it will not spoil what is going to be a great season."

Brawn, whose team has been tipped as favourite for victory this weekend, said he could not yet tell how strong its car is.

"I've genuinely got no idea. We were very pleased with the pace in testing. The drivers are very enthusiastic about the car, it seems to work well.

"But you never know until you get to a race. You probably won't know tomorrow either because teams run different fuel loads on the Friday, everyone is getting used to the eight engines per season, how you are going to run your engines on a Friday - there are all sorts of variables.

"Until we get to Saturday afternoon, none of us are going to really know where we are - that's the first reality check - and then of course the race on Sunday. But I'm very pleased with the car. The guys have done a great job, particularly considering the circumstances."