ilitig8

The bottom line is in motor-sports, possibly more than any other type of sport cheating goes on in significant numbers. The fact that F1 is more open (ie not a spec series) causes more rule "bending" and breaking to go on. The fact that former employees apparently "told" on BAR indicates BAR knew there "could" be an issue. The secondary tank itself is a non-issue, other teams run them completely legally, the issue is whether it is dry when the car is weighed. The fluid as ballast issue comes from a team that ran "water cooled" brakes but they didn't actually use the water and ran the tank dry but filled it for weigh-in which at the time they were essentially allowed to do. It is a shame that an issue that would have caused relatively little advantage essentially costs the team the season, though chances were high they would not have been able to hold Jens on the 75% clause anyway. I still think the punishment was harsh but the FIA did say last year they would be much harder on cheating.

F-C

Rules interpretation is a key point in racing to get an "unfair" advantage, especially in F1. BAR seems to tread the line of legality quite often, such as last year with the braking system and this year with the seamless gear changer.