Williams expect diffuser to be copied

The designs on the Williams FW31 and Toyota TF109 caused a stir after their launch earlier this year, with rival teams questioning whether the higher central section was a breach of the maximum height limit of 175 mm.

The FIA duly confirmed that the layout on the Williams and Toyota cars were wholly legal, and Michael revealed on Thursday that he never expected the situation to have become such a talking point in the first place.

"To be honest we were surprised that it even turned into an issue because for us it was very clearly inside the regulations," said Michael during a pre-season media event at the Williams factory.

"It was something that in various forms teams have been doing for two years, so it wasn't really a big issue for us or the FIA. So it was something that we clarified with the FIA well over a year ago.

"There wasn't really any confusion from our side, although there appeared to be some confusion from the other teams, but I don't know on what basis that was."

Michael thought it inevitable now that other teams would follow the lead set by Williams and Toyota and run with the diffuser concept from the start of the season.

"I am sure they will copy us," he explained. "Toyota have (already) got something, although their diffuser is not the same as ours even though it is a similar interpretation.

"I would be amazed if at least half the grid in Melbourne doesn't have it. And out of the cars I've seen, there are two teams who don't have it but have components on the car perfectly positioned to have it on their cars for Melbourne. They obviously took a different decision to us and thought we don't want to reveal this until Melbourne.

"If we don't have 50 percent of the grid there in Melbourne with the same concept I would be staggered."

Michael said that if his team had known before running the design that it would catch out rival outfits, they may have waited until bringing it onto the car.

"During the development, to be quite honest, we thought everyone would do it," he explained. "It wasn't something that we really thought was trick. It was a previous interpretation of the new regulations.

"If (we knew beforehand) there would be all this fuss and some teams who had not thought about it, instead of putting their hands up and saying, 'we didn't think of it because we weren't looking at the rules hard enough', instead of doing that they said, 'we'll try and get it banned'. If we thought that might happen, then we might have delayed."