FIA versus McLaren Fiasco Thread

[Tycoon]

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McLaren facing charges in Paris

McLaren will appear before an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council on Thursday in the latest chapter of the Formula One espionage affair.

The British team has been summoned to the FIA's headquarters to answer a charge that they breached article 151c of the international sporting code.

The rule relates to 'any fraudulent conduct, or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition, or to the interests of motor sport generally.'

That follows claims that their chief designer Mike Coughlan received sensitive confidential data from sacked Ferrari chief engineer Nigel Stepney back in April.

McLaren have expressed their disappointment at having to appear before the extraordinary meeting of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council and in a statement this month they stress that the team never used or benefited from the information in Coughlan's possession.

Team boss Ron Dennis, who has vehemently protested their innocence, told the BBC on Wednesday that the team had presented the FIA with a full dossier.


"Whilst it would be wrong to say I look forward to Thursday - because I'm not particularly looking forward to it - nevertheless I am keen to get into the process of putting this behind us," he said. "I am confident the information presented to the FIA is the true account of all the circumstances surrounding this matter."

Dennis has previously stated that "no Ferrari materials or data are, or have ever been, in the possession of any McLaren employee other than the individual (Coughlan) sued by Ferrari."

The stakes are high as if the FIA find McLaren guilty Dennis' outfit could be thrown out of this year's world championship or have points deducted.

In the drivers' championship, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, from Britain, is leading in his debut Formula One season with 70 points from team-mate Fernando Alonso on 68. McLaren are also leading the constructors' championship on 138 from Ferrari (111).

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[Bartek Sikorski]

McLaren appeal date set
McLaren's appeal against their Hungarian Grand Prix constructors' championship points penalty has been set for September 19 in Paris. Hungaroring race stewards denied the British team the ability to score constructors points after F. Alonso had impeded his team-mate L. Hamilton in qualifying for the race.
Team boss Ron Dennis made the move to appeal the decision after two days of deliberation.
Formula One's governing body the FIA said: "The International Court of Appeal (ICA) will meet in Paris on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 to hear an appeal lodged by the Motor Sports Association on behalf of its licence-holder Vodafone McLaren Mercedes concerning a decision of the Panel of the Stewards of the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix.
"In the interests of transparency the hearing will be open to members of the press and details of the accreditation procedure will be published closer to the time."
McLaren currently lead rivals Ferrari by 19 points in the championship with six races to go.
If they win their appeal they will be awarded 15 extra points from Hamilton's win and Alonso's fourth place in Hungary, increasing their advantage to 34.
McLaren will also be in Paris six days earlier for the appeal hearing requested by Ferrari relating to the spy scandal involving the former's chief designer Mike Coughlan.

[monster]

Well they have managed to get Mike Coughlan to admit he has the documents, and it has been a while already, how come nobody has managed to get him to tell the FIA how did he get the info and who did he get it from?

[Imhotep Evil]

Changes to the September 13th hearing
05/09/07 18:20


The espionage saga involving McLaren and Ferrari took a fresh turn on Wednesday.

F1's governing body revealed in a statement that it has received 'new evidence' and had therefore decided to convene another hearing of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris.

The meeting will happen on September 13th, in the place of an appeal of the original July 26th decision to not penalise Ron Dennis' Woking based team for spying on its Italian rivals.

"The FIA President's referral of the matter to the International Court of Appeal has been withdrawn," the FIA said in a statement on Wednesday.

The governing body also said McLaren representatives had been invited to attend the new meeting, but made no mention of Ferrari.

Due to 'insufficient evidence' in July, the World Motor Sport Council found Woking based McLaren guilty of breaching the International Sporting Code but could not prove that the confidential Ferrari data had been improperly used.


The FIA also said in July that the team faced exclusion from the 2007 and 2008 championships if it is 'found in the future that the Ferrari information has been used.'

FIA statement

"Following the receipt of new evidence the World Motor Sport Council has been reconvened for a hearing in Paris on September 13th.

"In accordance with its decision of July 26th representatives of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes have been invited to attend the hearing.

"The FIA President’s referral of the matter to the International Court of Appeal has been withdrawn."

Source GMM / FIA
CAPSIS International



How cool, now if only McLaren would file complain against Ferrari using an illegal car.

[450SEL6.9]

Originally Posted by Imhotep Evil

How cool, now if only McLaren would file complain against Ferrari using an illegal car.

It's probably headed that way if this new hearing is meaningful. I still think it's window dressing and Hamy-boy's points haul will be put in a proverbial lock box. Even if TOUI gets a meaningful penalty, Hamilton will escape without a scratch. Perhaps a crane will pick his points up and stick it in an concrete box, where no one can touch them.

If TOUI were to claim an illegal Ferrari car, they would have to argue the stewards that confirmed the results in the early races were in on the scam or grossly oblivious to the regulations.

[Imhotep Evil]

But they've changed the way the inspect the cars since than.
Ferrari (and others also likely) bypassed the way the inspections were made.
That wasn't the first and it won't be the last a team can bypass inspections.
I fully expect (some/all of the big) teams to have illegal-hidden TC from next year on.

[450SEL6.9]

Now Alonso and De La Rosa are allegedly linked to the scandal. No mention of Hamilton! He'll emerge as clean as a baby's bottom. Even if those two Spaniads used the information to help TOUI and indirectly Hamilton's car, I think the WMSC has a perfect excuse to preserve boy wonder's points!

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[Centurion]

Wow this scandal never seem to end. "Evidence" will keep getting dug up until one or two people from Mclaren are behind bars.

[Matt530i]

Originally Posted by 450SEL6.9

Now Alonso and De La Rosa are allegedly linked to the scandal. No mention of Hamilton! He'll emerge as clean as a baby's bottom. Even if those two Spaniads used the information to help TOUI and indirectly Hamilton's car, I think the WMSC has a perfect excuse to preserve boy wonder's points!

The article says that Alonso and De La Rosa have been offerred immunity if they testify. If things are as bad as they sometimes appear for Alonso at McLaren, and he falls further behind Hamilton this weekend, I wonder how tempted he'd be to say they used the data and see McLaren (and therefore Hamilton) DQ'd for the rest of the season?

[Imhotep Evil]

Alonso: `This is a lie`
Friday 7th September 2007


Fernando Alonso has strenuously denied reports claiming that he has provided the FIA with the information needed to launch a fresh hearing into McLaren's role in Stepneygate.


In the latest twist in the spy scandal, the FIA has allegedly obtained information against McLaren from an e-mail exchange between Alonso and the team's test driver Pedro de la Rosa.


The e-mails allegedly made reference to McLaren making use of Ferrari's set-up for their own cars as early as March this year. If the reports are to be believed the e-mail exchange could result in McLaren being excluded from this year's World Championship - and bring an end to Alonso's stay at the Woking team.


The Spaniard, though, denies that he has any involvement in the FIA's new evidence against McLaren.


"This is a lie," he said.


Alonso also refuted suggestions that he wants to see McLaren sanctioned in order to be free to leave the team at the end of the season.


"No way," he told Spanish daily AS.


"I believe that if they (the WMSC) sanction the team they sanction me. I am part of the team and we would share the same problem.


"We are here do win the World title for Drivers' and Constructors'.


"We are leading the two and there is no person in the team who thinks that they are going to sanction us or something is going to happen."

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