Mosley downplays Toro Rosso car row

The new Toro Rosso car raised a few eyebrows when it hit the track in Valencia last week, with some of the team's rivals understood to be uncomfortable with the likeness between the cars and that run by Red Bull's main team in 2005.

Under the terms of the Concorde Agreement, the document by which Formula One is run, teams must design, construct and manufacture their own car - and cannot use parts from another team.

FIA president Max Mosley has moved to play down the controversy, however, claiming that although the car may feature parts that were on the RB1 - that is actually allowed because those parts were not originally built by Red Bull Racing themselves but an outside company originally commissed by former team Jaguar.

When asked by autosport.com about whether he was sure the Toro Rosso was actually a new car, Mosley said: "That's an interesting question.

"My understanding is that with Ford/Jaguar, the parts were, for some obscure reason to do with tax and the internal structure of the Ford Motor Company, designed and built by a company that was not the racing team.

"If the parts are designed and manufactured by another company, and you own the intellectual property rights of the car that requires them, then it is completely legitimate. The thing you can't do is if you're Williams you can't run a McLaren front wing. But both Williams and McLaren could run a Lola front wing.

"So it looks like it has come from a third company. But if somebody challenges it, then there will be an enquiry. But I'm sure they've taken advice."

Although it is not clear whether rival teams are upset enough to lodge a protest about the legality of the car at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Mosley was confident the issue would not become a hot topic.

Speaking about whether he believed there would be a protest, he said: "Unlikely, unless it went very quickly. And even then no one will protest unless they have evidence. So I'd be surprised if we get a protest."