Feb.18 (GMM) It would not be the work of a day to emulate the Renault-like front exhaust system, Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa has admitted.

Of the innovative ideas seen so far in 2011, the R31's forward-exiting exhausts looks potentially the cleverest, amid speculation other teams are already trialling the layout in simulation.

McLaren is believed to also have an ace up its sleeve in the form of a similar exhaust layout, moving Germany's Auto Motor und Sport to ask Costa if Ferrari can also quickly follow suit.

But when asked if it will be hard to copy the idea, the Italian answered: "I would say so, yes.

"The exhaust of Renault needs to be integrated with the chassis, thinking twice about the cooling and the housing of the electronic boxes."

Costa confirmed that the last couple of seasons have seen a moving away from the optimising of existing solutions to more radical innovations.

"For sure it has something to do with the major regulation reforms of 2009," he said. "Everyone has worked with new concepts.

"As long as the rules are not stable, we will see many innovations. Only when the rules are the same for three, four years will we be back to another optimisation phase."

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