Speaking to Austria's Sportnet, Red Bull's Helmut Marko has warned that his is one of several teams that will protest the diffusers being used by three rival teams.

"They have a double diffuser which gives them five tenths per lap," declared the Austrian. "Seven teams, including Red Bull, are united," he continued. "They are illegal."

There are widespread fears that the first race of the season will descend into farce as a result of the row, while FIA President Max Mosley has effectively appeared to wash his hands of the matter.

Marko claims that his team and Renault went to the FIA last year and discussed a similar aerodynamic concept to that now being used by Brawn, Williams and Toyota but says that "at that time there was a negative answer".

Because there is a certain degree of ambiguity to the rules, a fact which Mosley concedes, there is a loophole which three teams have sought to exploit, just as teams have always sought to exploit loopholes in the regulations. However, the sheer pace of the three teams in testing clearly has the opposition worried.

A Pitpass source - a former F1 insider and someone who has made his living from scrutinising and out-thinking the rule book - said: "I cannot believe they even bothered shipping the cars to Australia" earlier today.

The source believes that protests will indeed be lodged and that the official results of the first couple of races might not be known until the European phase of the championship gets underway.