McLaren Trial

[mayana]

Update
Evidence published as McLaren drivers excel

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) - While the fallout from Thursday’s spygate’ hearing continues all around them, McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton set the fastest times of the day in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The drivers escaped punishment in Thursday’s spy hearing after handing all their relevant correspondence to the FIA investigators.
Hamilton had nothing to declare but Alonso delivered details of emails and text messages between him and McLaren test driver Pedro De La Rosa discussing leaked Ferrari technical information.
In light of the new evidence and further details given to them by the Italian Police, The FIA fined McLaren $100m and excluded them from the 2007 constructors’ championship.
Hamilton and Alonso though, are free to continue their drivers’ championship battle and both look to be in fine form on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
After Ferrari’s Finn Kimi Raikkonen dominated the morning session, Hamilton and Alonso stepped up their pace in afternoon practice on Friday, the Spaniard recording a lap of 1:46.654, the fastest of the day.
British rookie Hamilton, currently three points ahead of Alonso at the top of the drivers’ standings, was only a tenth of a second slower and the pair now look set for a head-to-head battle over the weekend.
Brazilian Ferrari driver Felipe Massa recovered from a disappointing morning to finish the day third quickest ahead of Raikkonen, while Toyota drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher will be pleased to have been fifth and sixth fastest respectively.

[jeff1101]

Mclaren basically got caught with its hands in the cookie jar... Now they're paying the price. Its ironic that they had to resort to outright cheating to win an F1 championship.

And they had the nerve to drag Renault with them in the spy mess? Theyre situation is so desperate that theyre just basically clutching at straws now.

What is ironic is Ron Dennis' plan of "driver equality" backfired on him...and Badly. He knew going in (like he didnt learn enough from the lesson of Prost and Senna) all the trouble he's getting himself into coddling L Hamilton and the same time addressing the needs of his "number 1" driver Fernando Alonso.

It came to a point that he was given an ultimatum by Alonso and was forced to pick sides. Well what did he do? he strutted around, told Alonso you signed the contract and you can go next year if you want but only until after Mclaren wins the championship.

He fostered hostility between his drivers and worse allowed suspect even illegal behaviour to occur in his outfit and under his watch.

Could you really blame Alonso if he testified against Mclaren? How could you foster loyalty from your driver if you let him out in the cold again and again? Alonso can be loyal heck he left Renault in good terms and still call Briatorre his friend. I dont think he calls Ron Dennis anything remotely like that.

In the end it was Ron Dennis' fault and his alone.

Serves his sorry a$$ right...

Sad part is Mclaren is paying the price for his folly.

[number001]

I think Alonso should be excluded from the driver's championship, in light of evidence that suggest of his awareness and involvement in the use of the leaked technical documents from Ferrari. Yes, Alonso did cooperate with the investigation but why should he get out unscathed? I wonder what kind of message (and any future repurcussions/implication) the FIA is sending out? At least slap Alonso with a lighter sentence, instead of "get-out-jail-card" for his cooperation.

[jeff1101]

Ssssshhhh!! Its called witness protection program...

Ever wondered why Erap Estrada got convicted and is now languishing in jail (If you call his Tanay resthouse "jail") while Chavit "I gotta have it" Singson is up and about and petting his pet tiger?

[BoyFerrari]

I'm sad for Fernando Alonso.

Here is a guy, a world champion at that, who has been projecting himself as a clean, "be fair" sportsman all this time. We know about his high-profile tantrums when he screamed that Schumacher cheated when he "parked" his Ferrari at Monaco. He made tantrums when drivers make moves on him that may "appear" as cheating in his own handbook. Yes, Fernando has been a model of a fair, honest driver.

Now here we are reading transcripts from his email about him asking his team to test the gas that Ferrari used to heat its tires, on his McLaren car. A confidential knowledge he knows very well was stolen from Ferrari. He got advanced knowledge on what lap Raikkonen was going to pit back in the Australian GP - yet he never cried foul (at that time).

And let's not forget, this is the same Fernando Alonso who was found guilty of deliberately blocking his own teammate at the pitstop so that his qualifying P1 time can never be beaten. His clumsy excuse: He was putting a gap between himself and the traffic in the circuit. In reality, there were only 2 cars in the circuit at that time, and one of the cars was even on its way to the pitlane.

Fernando - not as clean as he has projected himself to be all this time. A big disappointment.

[empy]

i also think the drivers should be punished. much as i like Hamilton, he and Fernanda Alonso were involved - there's just no way they could have known.

for cooperating, they should have served a lesser "sentence". but no punishment altogether is pushing it.

[artpogi]

here's the complete decision of the WMSC

I have read the whole document, IMO Dela Rosa and Alonso should have been penalized to a certain degree, most especially Dela Rosa

[CVT]

i also think the drivers should be punished. much as i like Hamilton, he and Fernanda Alonso were involved - there's just no way they could have known.

for cooperating, they should have served a lesser "sentence". but no punishment altogether is pushing it.

Agree.

I'm rooting for LH (over FA) since he is writing history as we speak...

However, a driver is a champion not because of the driver alone. It's a collective effort by everyone in the team,- represented in the track by the driver and the car. Since the car, which is, say 1/2 of this team, is an anomaly,- then IMO, both LH and FA should be punished. For me, FIA's judgement is showbiz,- political and business, and is not "fair".

And again, as I stated in another thread, all parties were given a certain level of satisfaction.

For Ferrari,- it is the disqualification of McLaren from the world championship this year and the $100M fine; and the FIA's 'recognition' that indeed, McLaren in one way or the other have benefited from the stolen Ferrari documents. I am sure though that this does not stop here as Ferrari is filing legal suits on the McLaren team. The peace agreement between RD and JT earlier in the year is now deemed to be 'treacherous'...

On the other hand, for McLaren, they still have a chance for the driver's championship and they can still race. Participation in the 2008 Constructor's Championship is TBD.

For BE and the F1 Circus,- almost, an "uninterrupted" revenue...

3808:fish:

[Monseratto]

Alonso tried to bluff Ron Dennis into picking sides. But Ron instead called Alonso's bluff and brought the emails to the FIA. I wonder why Ron wants to keep this guy if he knows he can't control him?

Alonso, manager, play down McLaren crisis reports

Widespread reports late on Friday said the espionage saga was re-fired following a furious row between the Spaniard and McLaren's Ron Dennis in Hungary

As they argued about the qualifying pit stop incident, Alonso is believed to have threatened to take the incriminating spy emails to the FIA if Dennis did not give him either number one status or release him from his contract.

Dennis pre-empted the reigning world champion by calling the governing body himself.

Alonso was quoted as saying by the Spanish newspaper As: "I do not believe that the (FIA's) decision was taken only because of this.

"I assume that there was much more information than this, but I am not going to say any more about it. Neither yes or no about anything.
"

But even Dennis had to admit to the World Motor Sport Council on Thursday that his relationship with Alonso is now 'very cold', according to Bild newspaper.

His manager Luis Garcia Abad also played down the reports, including suggestions that Alonso's position at McLaren is now untenable despite the existence of a three year contract.

Asked if the Spaniard would stay in 2008, he answered in the Spanish press: "He has to.

"We have an agreement. We are not negotiating with anybody and our plan is to continue here," he also told the BBC.

[empy]

i also think the drivers should be punished. much as i like Hamilton, he and Fernanda Alonso were involved - there's just no way they could have known.

sorry, typo in the above sentence - i meant to say there's just no way they could not have known