Niki Lauda: "I very much hope that this absurdity stops now."

Niki Lauda: "I very much hope that this absurdity stops now." Photo: Ray Kennedy

Formula One brought its technical civil war to an end on Thursday, reverting to exhaust system rules in force at Valencia last month.

Former champion Niki Lauda declared the episode the 'biggest farce ever' in the sport's history.

The Austrian had feared a tighter clampdown on the rules surrounding off-throttle blown exhaust fumes would be seen as a move to restrict the performance advantage of champions Red Bull.

In turn, that could be seen as a bid to help Ferrari, a scenario Lauda told N-TV "would be the greatest insolence".

The the arguments had included a public row between the McLaren and Red Bull team chiefs at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix last weekend.

Each made accusations and counter-accusations about their respective teams' use of systems designed to make use of exhaust fumes to enhance down-force, and the rear grip and performance of their cars.

"The crucial thing is that absolutely no-one was protesting - the practice was tacitly accepted by all the teams," said Lauda.

"But then suddenly the FIA and (race director and technical delegate) Charlie Whiting had the idea to change the rules in the middle of the season. I personally don't understand it.

"I very much hope that this absurdity stops now and that we and the crowd know at the Nurburgring (the venue for the next race) exactly what the rules are."

It was as if by magic that the complaints of Lauda, 62, and many others, were answered with the FIA making clear that for the rest of this year the rules will remain those that used at the European Grand Prix at Valencia in Spain last month.

This means the use of "off-throttle exhaust blowing' will remain legal for the remainder of the season, but teams will not be allowed to change their engines settings between qualifying and the race.

The FIA said it still believed the whole practice of diverting exhaust gases in this way was 'questionable', but conceded the situation was so complicated that it was easier to revert to a known set of rules.

FIA said it had acted because teams were using extreme settings for their engines for qualifying and then changing to less-extreme and more reliable ones for the races.

The ruling body wanted to ban all the relevant technology this year, but came up against varied technical arguments related to safety and reliability as the teams fought over the issues and attempted to gain advantages.