Ferrari's Stepney responds

**CVT** · July 25th, 2007 11:56 AM

Update on this saga...... FIA Meeting tomorrow....

It looks like the flexible floor of Ferrari is the fuse in this bomb, because if it was just a tip, why would a team protest it with certainty? (Unless it has the salient features of the design?)..... Well, we'll see how the FIA manages this controversy....

from: http://home.skysports.com/

McLaren to lose Alonso?

According to reports in Spain, Fernando Alonso would be free to leave McLaren should the Woking team be found guilty in the espionage scandal currently engulfing Formula One.

Although opinion is split regarding the outcome of Thursday's FIA hearing into the matter, as.com has claimed there could be yet another 'penalty' for Ron Dennis's outfit should any blame be laid at its door.

Sanctions, should the team be found culpable of benefiting from Mike Coughlan's decision accept a 700-page dossier of information from a Ferrari insider, could range from a heavy fine, via the loss of all constructors' championship points, to the stripping of all points in both the teams' and drivers' championships.

Such an outcome would leave Alonso and current leader Lewis Hamilton with nothing to show for their five wins and consistent podium appearances this season.

However, it is now being alleged that the two-time world champion could be free to leave McLaren should his image be damaged by the team's involvement in the scandal.

Dennis has repeatedly claimed that nothing contained in the Ferrari technical package has appeared on McLaren's MP4-22 - which returned to winning ways with Alonso at the Nurburgring on Sunday - but paddock rumour claims that the FIA has enough proof that the information has been used to throw the book at McLaren.

Despite Dennis's denials regarding the use of Ferrari intellectual property on McLaren's car, the information could nevertheless have potentially been used to gain a competitive advantage.

McLaren also launched a successful protest against the 'flexible floor' introduced by Ferrari at the start of the season - something cynics say would not have been possible without back-up information detailing the part - based on email conversations between Coughlan and Ferrari's Nigel Stepney.

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Other update: Ferrari refused Stepney's request for a one-on-one meeting with JT.

3303:shocked:

**CVT** · July 27th, 2007 06:47 AM

McLaren is cleared!

from: www.news.com.au/heraldsun

FORMULA One giants Ferrari are outraged that rivals McLaren have been cleared of any wrongdoing in the espionage affair that has rocked the sport.
An extraordinary hearing of the 25-strong FIA World Motor Sports Council found that McLaren did not benefit from the confidential Ferrari documents that were found in the possession of their chief designer.

If found guilty McLaren, whose driver Lewis Hamilton is leading the drivers' championship, faced being docked points.

A relieved McLaren team boss Ron Dennis said on leaving the hearing in Paris: "The punishment fits the crime.''

But McLaren were warned in an FIA statement that if they are ever found to have used the information passed to Mike Coughlan, their suspended designer, by a disaffected Ferrari employee then they risked being kicked out of the 2007 and 2008 season.

Ferrari did not accept the decision.

"Ferrari notes that McLaren-Mercedes has been found guilty by the FIA World Council,'' the team said in a statement, referring to the fact that by being in possession of the files, McLaren were in breach of the sporting code.

"It, therefore, finds it incomprehensible that violating the fundemental principal of sporting honesty does not have, as a logical and inevitable consequence, the application of a sanction.

"Today's decision legitimises dishonest behaviour in Formula One and sets a very bad precedent.

"Ferrari feels this is highly prejudicial to the credibility of the sport. It will continue with the legal action already underway within the Italian criminal justice system and in the civil courts in England.''

3303:shocked:

**BoyFerrari** · July 27th, 2007 09:54 PM

I'm also perplexed as to why the FIA did not give McLaren any kind of penalty in whatever form for the mere proven fact that they were caught red-handed with a Ferrari confidential manual in the hands of their chief designer. Amazing render of justice. Even some points deduction would have been warranted.

**CVT** · July 28th, 2007 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by BoyFerrari

I'm also perplexed as to why the FIA did not give McLaren any kind of penalty in whatever form for the mere proven fact that they were caught red-handed with a Ferrari confidential manual in the hands of their chief designer. Amazing render of justice. Even some points deduction would have been warranted.

I agree with you there, bro. This is really something for the records. IMO, it's FIA's view of "appeasement" and "self-preservation"....

And, Ferrari, being the aggrieved party, is at the receiving end of all of these....

3303:shocked:

**CVT** · July 28th, 2007 07:27 PM

Here is Lover Boy Flavio's view of all of these proceedings....

"So I don't understand what happened: if the FIA admits to have established possession of Ferrari material by McLaren, then why is there no retribution? This verdict reminds me of Pontius Pilate." FB

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from: http://www.autosport.com

Briatore baffled by FIA verdict

By Biranit Goren and Michele Lostia Friday, July 27th 2007, 10:59 GMT

Renault team chief Flavio Briatore admitted he was baffled by the FIA World Motor Sport Council decision yesterday to apply no penalty to McLaren despite finding them guilty of unauthorised possession of Ferrari documents.

The WMSC found McLaren to be in breach of article 151c of the International Sporting Code but said there was insufficient evidence to suggest McLaren had used the confidential Ferrari information "in such a way as to interfere improperly with the FIA Formula One World Championship."

Briatore said found the mixed decision baffling, and compared it to Pontius Pilate, who famously washed his hands off the decision to crucify Jesus Christ.

"I don't understand what happened," Briatore told Gazzetta dello Sport, "because to begin with you would only gather the World Council if you had proof. Otherwise, if you don't have proof, you avoid such a meeting.

"So I don't understand what happened: if the FIA admits to have established possession of Ferrari material by McLaren, then why is there no retribution? This verdict reminds me of Pontius Pilate."

Briatore also said the entire affair has been damaging to Formula One as a whole, but he empathised with Ferrari's frustration over the verdict.

"These weeks we've all heard and read what happened, and surely this story has been very damaging for the business of Formula One, also considering the great media exposure it has had," the Italian said.

"If someone had some advantage from the possession of the material, it would have been fair for him to pay the consequences. Besides, I too would have liked to know Ferrari's weight distribution...

"I spoke on the phone with [Ferrari chief] Jean Todt, and he sounded very bitter. I also understand [Ferrari president Luca] di Montezemolo's anger."

3303:shocked:

**niky** · July 28th, 2007 10:15 PM

Wait... so now that Ferrari isn't F1's golden boy anymore, they get decisions like this...? I'd say at least a ten point deduction for the McLaren outfit is in order... or voiding their chance at a manufacturer's trophy... errh?

Maybe it's the Lewis Effect...

**artpogi** · July 29th, 2007 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by niky

Wait... so now that Ferrari isn't F1's golden boy anymore, they get decisions like this...? I'd say at least a ten point deduction for the McLaren outfit is in order... or voiding their chance at a manufacturer's trophy... errh?

Maybe it's the Lewis Effect...

I agree, there should be some form of penalty against the McLaren team.

**BoyFerrari** · July 29th, 2007 01:56 PM

It is also difficult to believe Ron Dennis' claim that his chief car designer was the only one who had seen and had knowledge of what was inside those stolen Ferrari documents.

It is also difficult to believe that they did not use those classified Ferrari info to their advantage since McLaren complained to FIA earlier about a questionable design in the Ferrari car related to the movable floor - which was later found to be legal anyway.

I think Ferrari should respond by painting their cars all black in the next Hungarian GP, drivers in all black, pit-crew all black. This is in protest because the FIA had mocked the sport. I'm not sure though if Felipe Massa and The Curse will agree to shave their heads. That would look good at the podium.

**CVT** · July 29th, 2007 03:32 PM

Originally Posted by BoyFerrari

I think Ferrari should respond by painting their cars all black in the next Hungarian GP, drivers in all black, pit-crew all black. This is in protest because the FIA had mocked the sport. I'm not sure though if Felipe Massa and The Curse will agree to shave their heads. That would look good at the podium.

Hehehe,- that would be a sight to see, bro....

3404:surfing:

**artpogi** · July 29th, 2007 03:46 PM

Remember that brouhaha in the US GP where only Ferrari and another team ran because the rest of the teams were concerned of a safety issue on tires and changes in track layout?

"Just for the sake of argument," what if Ferrari do the same thing, I mean pull out of one (only one) GP, as an act of protest against the FIA/WSMC.

hehehe...