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I'm quite two way about it.
Frankly, it would be sad if F1 loses one competitive team for the remaining of the season. Hence, i'm relieved that BAR isn't thrown out of the championship. Having more cars is always a good thing.
However, taking the whole sports into context, BAR is really lucky to get out lightly. 2 race bans is quite insignificant when compared to the type of punishment that could possibly be held in such events (ie exclusion). In any case, it is indeed disgraceful for BAR-Honda to violate the rules. And i guess that the race bans would suffice to send the message across to the public that BAR cheated, or at least ran illegal cars, and a message to other teams that no cheating is tolerated in F1. I think this would force all teams to run a tighter ship making doubly sure that their cars comply with the rules.
Unlike a mistake, it can hardly be "mistaken" if a car run a design that is against the logical understanding of rules, even if it is not clearly stated. Moreover, to "hide" such a system, and trying to cover it up, shows signs that the team is aware that such a system is indeed pushing rules to (and over) the limit. To insist and deny the charge, and counter blame FIA for doing it for political reasons is almost disgraceful.
There is always the route of clarification of any design if the team is unsure whether the system is legal or not. Unfortunately, BAR doesn't seek to clarify their doubts, and put themselves in this position. In fact, this brings us back to Germany last year, where once again, BAR was found to push regulation limits without consulting FIA before hand, running "illegal" FTT system (?or software, or wadever..correct me if i'm wrong), and FIA had to tell BAR to change the system for the next race, and subsequently ban it this year. Willis should be more aware of prior clarifications and avoid similar problems, consulting FIA if in doubt.
But there it is, although the penalty is light, from a racing point of view and moral grounds, the result is good. We'd have BAR back in June racing (phew), everyone knows BAR made a bad move, BAR suffers for cheating, and FIA wins it's case.
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