Formula 1 Thread

Ferrari firmly believes McLaren has benefited from those 780 pages of documents (shocking, isn't it?):

According to British newspaper the Guardian, Ferrari state in a recent document submitted to the London High Court that the stolen documents found in Coughlan's possession were beneficial to the McLaren team in the Formula One championship.

According to the Guardian, Ferrari's court document also contests McLaren's claim that Coughlan was the only employee who knew about the documents.

The newspaper report says Ferrari's lawyers list five different occasions on which confidential Ferrari information was made known to high ranking McLaren executives, including McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh, and the team's engineering director Paddy Lowe.

These occasions include not only ex-Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney informing McLaren about Ferrari's floor, but also leaking to McLaren information about Ferrari's brakes and rear wing-flap separators.
"The chief designer is part of the key group of three to four people who drive the technical team to improve the car," Ferrari's lawyers have told the High Court.

"The opportunity for a chief designer to influence the car's performance in all areas is huge."
autosport.com - F1 News: Ferrari: spying 'likely' benefited McLaren

McLaren is screwed if any of that is true...
 
Ferrari firmly believes McLaren has benefited from those 780 pages of documents (shocking, isn't it?):

autosport.com - F1 News: Ferrari: spying 'likely' benefited McLaren

McLaren is screwed if any of that is true...

Hope this is just a matter of we are only hearing Ferrari's side of the story. I still wonder why, if McLaren were embracing the stolen technical information, that their chief engineer would go to Honda along with Stepney, offering that information.
 
Thank God. The championship can be decided on the track.


Formula 1 : News FIA - F1-Live.com

No deduction in points or fine for McLaren

McLaren Mercedes have today been handed a suspended sentence by the World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris.

The team were found guilty of having unauthorised Ferrari document in their possession.

It was deemed however that there is insufficient evidence that the team used documents in the possession of Chief Designer Mike Coughlan and therefore escape an immediate sanction.

The council has decided to review the situation should there seem to be a case where such information has been used, the team will be invited back to another extraordinary meeting to face a new charge of breaching the regulations.

A relieved McLaren Chairman Ron Dennis told AFP on leaving the hearing: "The punishment fits the crime."

World Motor Sport Council – Decision
An extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council was held in Paris on 26 July, 2007. The following decision was taken:

“The WMSC is satisfied that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was in possession of confidential Ferrari information and is therefore in breach of article 151c of the International Sporting Code.
However, there is insufficient evidence that this information was used in such a way as to interfere improperly with the FIA Formula One World Championship. We therefore impose no penalty.
“But if it is found in the future that the Ferrari information has been used to the detriment of the championship, we reserve the right to invite Vodafone McLaren Mercedes back in front of the WMSC where it will face the possibility of exclusion from not only the 2007 championship but also the 2008 championship.

“The WMSC will also invite Mr Stepney and Mr Coughlan to show reason why they should not be banned from international motor sport for a lengthy period and the WMSC has delegated authority to deal with this matter to the legal department of the FIA.”
 
Good news. Now, let's get down to the juicy details of how Coughlan received the documents and where that white power came from and from whom it came.
 
Ferrari, predictably, is pretty angry that no punishment was handed down to McLaren. They're not buying that was just Coughlan that really had and went over those documents...

"Ferrari notes that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has been found guilty by the FIA World Council," said the Italian team in a statement.

"It therefore finds it incomprehensible that violating the fundamental principle 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 serious precedent.

"In fact, the decision of the World Council signifies that possession, knowledge at the very highest level and use of highly confidential information acquired in an illicit manner and the acquiring of confidential information over the course of several months, represent violations that do not carry any punishment.

"The fact that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was in possession of such information was discovered totally by accident and, but for this, the team would continue to have it. This is all the more serious as it has occurred in a sport like Formula One in which small details make all the difference.

"Ferrari feels this is highly prejudicial to the credibility of the sport. It will continue with the legal action already under way within the Italian criminal justice system and in the civil court in England."
autosport.com - F1 News: Ferrari furious with McLaren's reprieve
 
At least Jean Todt isn't bitter or anything:

"I wonder what would have happened with the roles reversed," Todt told Corriere della Sera in an interview. "I wonder if they had found in the house of a Ferrari chief designer 780 secret papers, 780 classified documents of another team...

"There would have been cries of a scandal, an exemplary punishment would have been demanded. And it would have been granted, I have no doubt.

"There is not even a sign of logic in this verdict. Either they are guilty or they aren't. McLaren were found responsible of having violated the regulations of F1, of having behaved in a fraudulent manner, but they haven't been punished.

"That's not all: McLaren during the hearing admitted to have received secret material, and that the knowledge of this operation of espionage arrived at the top level, even to Ron Dennis, and there hasn't been any penalization. It's shameful.

"One thing is certain: we at Ferrari can calmly look at ourselves in the mirror. I think others, since yesterday, can't do the same thing," added the Frenchman.

Todt also said the leaked documents have given McLaren a "huge advantage" in this year's championship.

"From this verdict a strange situation comes up: it's like having played poker against a rival who knows your cards," he added. "The advantage is evident, it's huge, even. Well, it was pretended nothing happened.

autosport.com - F1 News: Todt: Ferrari would have been penalised
 
Flavio Briatore came out and pretty much said the same thing as Todt.

I can understand there they're coming from... but apparently the WMSC believes McLaren's story that it was only Coughlan who had the documents and once everyone else became aware of it, they told him to get rid of them or some such.

Sounds like they (WMSC, FIA) put quite a bit of time in investigating the McLaren cars (after McLaren fully cooperated with showing them their technical information) and couldn't find anything from Ferrari that they had used on their own cars.

Kind of a weird circumstance, should a team be penalized for one person (if that's what you want to believe) having information from another team illegally?
 
Kind of a weird circumstance, should a team be penalized for one person (if that's what you want to believe) having information from another team illegally?

Yes. Don't care if it is one person or ten people, they are still guilty.
 
Even if it can't be proven that anyone other than Coughlan had/saw the documents? McLaren did suspend him immediately once they were aware he had the Ferrari documents.

Ferrari of course believes they knew sooner, but you know.

I wonder what kind of penalty Ferrari was looking for here?
 
More reaction from Todt:

Ferrari CEO Jean Todt continued his scathing attack on McLaren and the FIA's World Motor Sport Council's decision not to penalise the Woking-based team, the Frenchman accusing McLaren of hypocrisy and hinting the Italian team could take further legal action against their rivals.

In a lengthy monologue released by Ferrari this afternoon, titled "A reaction in the cold light of day", Todt further reveals that shortly before the spying affair erupted some month ago, McLaren and Ferrari signed an agreement to establish a better working relationship between the two embattled rival teams.
"Some of this data was used to prepare a clarification request submitted to the FIA, aimed clearly at us, given that throughout the Melbourne weekend, McLaren team principal and his closest colleagues made statements in which they threw doubt over 'some cars'.

"Therefore, such information was in fact used to obtain an advantage over us: not through an improvement in their performance, but instead through limiting ours.
"It is a shame that before this, Coughlan asked [Stepney] for information on our brake balance system, then went to lunch with him in Spain, before calmly returning home with 780 pages of designs, diagrams, data and a whole lot more - as stated by the FIA release - with which to design, develop run and race a 2007 Ferrari Formula One car.
"A few weeks after the race in Melbourne, the McLaren team principal proposed that we should reach a sort of agreement to establish a better relationship between our two teams, thus avoiding any future denunciations to the sporting authority.

"I replied that I found it impossible to believe him, because on several occasions we had seen that certain commitments had always been disregarded by McLaren. There was an exchange of views and, believing in their good faith, I agreed to sign this agreement on 9 June last.

"Since that time and even earlier, McLaren was perfectly aware, not only of the emails sent by their informer within our company, but also of the fact that their chief designer had stayed in contact with him and had received and continued to be in possession of a significant amount of technical information that belonged to us.
autosport.com - F1 News: Todt accuses McLaren of hypocrisy

:popcorn:
 
Non Stepneygate news for a change. Provisional schedule for next season:

Mar 16 Australia (Melbourne)
Mar 23 Malaysia (Sepang)
Apr 6 Bahrain (Sakhir)
Apr 27 Spain (Barcelona)
May 11 Turkey (Istanbul)
May 25 Monaco (Monte Carlo)
Jun 8 Canada* (Montreal)
Jun 22 France (Magny Cours)
Jul 6 Britain (Silverstone)
Jul 20 Germany (Hockenheim)
Aug 3 Hungary (Hungaroring)
Aug 24 Europe (Valencia)**
Sep 7 Italy (Monza)
Sep 14 Belgium (Spa Francorchamps)
Sep 28 Singapore**
Oct 12 China (Shanghai)
Oct 19 Japan (Fuji)
Nov 2 Brazil (Interlagos)

* Provisional
** subject to circuit approval
Formula 1 : News F1 - F1-Live.com
 
Scott Speed came pretty close to losing his ride this week...

Sebastian Vettel will not replace beleaguered Toro Rosso racer Scott Speed at the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix, it has emerged.

Bild newspaper reported that Speed will stay in the car at least for the upcoming rounds in Hungary and Turkey, despite his spectacular falling out with bosses Franz Tost and Gerhard Berger.

Bild said ‘financial issues’ fouled Vettel's move to the Italian team.
Formula 1 : News VETTEL - F1-Live.com
 
Even if it can't be proven that anyone other than Coughlan had/saw the documents? McLaren did suspend him immediately once they were aware he had the Ferrari documents.

Ferrari of course believes they knew sooner, but you know.

I wonder what kind of penalty Ferrari was looking for here?

I'm sure Ferrari is looking for a penalty that would gift the WDC and WCC to them.

Shouldn't the burden of proof be on the accusers, not the accused? Maybe McLaren knew about it sooner and didn't come clean, but maybe they didn't. Did Coughlin not go to Honda trying to sell the info, or am I wrong? Why would he do that if McLaren had embraced the idea of the stolen information?
 
No more USGP (in 2008, anyway), and now no more American driver on F1.

Sebastien Vettel will replace American Scott Speed at the Toro Rosso team from the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Italian outfit has confirmed.

Vettel was released from his contract with the BMW Sauber team earlier today, and he will join Toro Rosso for the remainder of the 2007 season.
autosport.com - F1 News: Vettel replaces Speed at Toro Rosso
autosport.com - F1 News: BMW release Vettel to Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso is half way to their Sebastien & Sebastien dream team.
 
Stepneygate, 7/31 Edition:

Stepney himself is still pleading his innocence in the issue:

"I did not take any designs away from Ferrari. Someone passed on the designs but it wasn't me," Stepney told Italy's La Repubblica.

"I do not want to involve other colleagues. I know one part of the story, not all. Ferrari know the whole story."

"They put the powder in my trouser pocket while I was taking a shower," Stepney said without stating who he meant by "they".

"I am ready to to be heard (by the court) at any moment," added Stepney, who said he had already found another job far away from Italy and Formula One.
autosport.com - F1 News: Stepney says not to blame for leaked data

Meanwhile, the spy case has been sent to the Court of Appeal by the FIA following last week's verdict...

Ferrari will get the chance to tell their version of the spying affair after FIA president Max Mosley decided to send the case to the Court of Appeal.

Mosley's decision comes after a letter from Italy's automobile federation president Luigi Macaluso, in which the Italian was critical of the World Motor Sport Council's ruling to not penalise McLaren despite finding them guilty of being in possession of confidential documents belonging to Ferrari.

In a letter replying to Macaluso, Mosley said the matter will now be taken to the Court of Appeal, where Ferrari will be able to give their version of the story.
autosport.com - F1 News: FIA sends spy case to Court of Appeal
autosport.com - F1 News: The full letter from Macaluso to Mosley
autosport.com - F1 News: The full letter from Mosley to Macaluso
 
i would like to see him in the IRL, but ChampCar seems most likely.

which sucks, because i really hate ChampCar. nothing more boring than a narrow temporary street circuit.
 
Makes me sad about Speed. I feel like he did not have enough of a chance. He wasn't bad in GP2. Oh well, looks like another dry spell for drivers in F1. I can only hope he will get an American sponsor behind him with some cash and he can land a job as a test driver with an F1 team. Doubtful.
 
Franz Tost's version of the events following Speed's exit from the European GP:

"When Scott came to the pit wall after going off the track, he complained about the very bad performance of the team because of the delay he suffered during the pitstop," Tost told Autosprint magazine in an interview.

"By contrast, I firstly asked him why he went off, then I tried to explain to him that he was the one who actually caused the chaos, but he didn't listen to me. He carried on wanting to know why the team took so long to change his tyres when he came into the pits.

"It seemed like that was his only worry, while mine is, most of all, that the team are not put in doubt and their job not denigrated.

"There was a reason why the pitstop lasted that long: in his in lap Scott overtook our other car - that of Vitantonio Liuzzi - in the last sector. The GPS fit on our cars did not show that Scott had overtaken Tonio, cutting through the chicane, just before entering the pitlane. [The GPS] maybe didn't have enough time to catch the move.

"The team there, who were expecting to see Tonio coming, were left dumbfounded and were unprepared. Scott overtook his teammate by avoiding the chicane and I think he would have had to give back the position to avoid a penalty, if he stayed in the race.

"That's why I got upset: I was annoyed by his attitude, by the fact that his only worry seemed to blame the team. I mean, he went off the track, he made a mistake: I make mistakes every day as well, that's not the problem. But I can't tolerate that he casts a cloud over the work of the team.

"That's why, when he turned around to leave, I followed him and grabbed him by the shoulder. 'While I'm talking to you,' I said, 'you can't leave like this.' I deny having grabbed him by the neck, while it's true that, once I had calmed down, I apologized to him."
autosport.com - F1 News: Tost denies grabbing Speed by the neck
 

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