Angry Renault quiet over damper verdict

And while world champion Fernando Alonso has downplayed the impact of losing the system on his team's competitiveness, Renault chiefs are seething behind closed doors at what they believe is a blatant intervention in the championship fight.

The governing body banned the system last month, claiming it constitutes a movable aerodynamic device, which is forbidden by the technical regulations. However, Renault challenged this ban in Germany, and the Hockenheim race stewards sided with the French team, ruling their damper system is legal.

The FIA then appealed the stewards' decision, and after a brief hearing on Tuesday in Paris, France, the Court of Appeal quashed the stewards' ruling and outlawed the system.

Since then, Renault chiefs have kept quiet and away from the media. Team boss Flavio Briatore was openly critical at the Hungarian Grand Prix of the governing body's approach, questioning the motives behind the ban, but in Istanbul this weekend, the Italian was hardly seen in the paddock.

Similarly, the normally media friendly Pat Symonds, Renault's director of engineering, has also avoided giving out interviews and press briefings.

Team sources say the French car manufacturer is determined to move on from the situation - well aware that they cannot change anything by commenting on the FIA's decision, especially when they have little positive comments to make on the matter.

That said, Symonds and Briatore met this morning with a small group of journalists from Italy. Sources at that meeting said the Renault men were still seething, but so far any reaction made on the record has been restrained.

Briatore merely stated that, "for me, it is hard to comprehend how it could be possible for a system that was always deemed legal to suddenly be banned half-way through the season."

Symonds himself was quoted by Gazzetta dello Sport as saying: "We must accept the FIA's decision and look to the future. We are working to solve the problems that it might cause."

When asked if the loss of mass dampers was very important, Symonds said: "I'm not sure you can say 'very' but it does matter because in F1 every tenth is key."