McLaren suspends key technical employee in ferrari probe

So what is happening now? Where is everyone at in this stage? How long will this take to settle?

 

thanks for pointing that out

 

Remember 2005 - the year with no tire change - McLaren was the one taking the most advantage from the tires as well.

 

Nice summary/timeline at Planet-F1:

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3261_2466749,00.html

 

What would you do if bunch of blueprints from Ferrari will show up in your mailbox ? Burn it ? it looks like hold on to it is the best option.

 

the latest from formula1.com
McLaren: no Ferrari elements in team or car
Following the earlier news that a McLaren engineer has been suspended in connection with alleged theft of technical information from Ferrari, the British team have issued a second statement regarding the matter.

Formula One racing's governing body, the FIA, has also said they are launching a formal investigation into the issue, with the full cooperation of both teams.

“McLaren has completed a thorough investigation and can confirm that no Ferrari intellectual property has been passed to any other members of the team or incorporated into its cars,” read Wednesday’s press release.

“McLaren has in the meanwhile openly disclosed these matters to the FIA and Ferrari and sought to satisfy any concerns that have arisen from this matter. In order to address some of the speculation McLaren has invited the FIA to conduct a full review of its cars to satisfy itself that the team has not benefited from any intellectual property of another competitor.”

The FIA, meanwhile, stressed that the remit of their enquiry would focus solely on the requirements of the Formula One regulations and the International Sporting Code.

Ferrari confirmed on Tuesday that they have presented a legal case against former employee Nigel Stepney, as well as the McLaren engineer, which numerous media reports are claiming to be chief designer Mike Coughlan, a former colleague of Stepney.

 

No, Ebay is the best option....

Seriously, this Caughlin guy isn't the sharpest knife in the draw. Given the climate surrounding the Ferrari/Stepney fallout, if I were Caughlin I would have at least put the docs elsewhere assuming they were of value; if they were useless the shredder would have been my next step.....

 

That settles it then....

 

I'd like to meet this chick

 

Note the underlined part of the above statement.....

It's very broad and gives the FIA major wiggle room to make opinionated decisions. Now McLaren may not have direct parts from the Ferrari on their car, but if it's deemed that they benefited from the information in any way, they're screwed.

IE: Tire data and ideal pressures, the "clarification" request on the floor boards.

I can't wait to watch Ron Dennis dangle in the wind for this. I don't care what the FIA does, I'm more interested in what the brass at Mercedes (You know, his new bosses since sold majority ownership to them....) do to save worldwide face.

And to say that Ron Dennis and the rest of McLaren knew nothing of this is totally naive. Coughlan is his right hand, Ron knows everything. Ron is technically oriented, and makes it his point to know everything. The only way he comes out of this clean is if it's found that he blew the whistle on his own guy.

 

She plays a part in the Schwarzenegger movie "Total Recall".

 

you forgot to add RD is Lucifer

 

Bryanp
Formula 3

the latest from formula1.com
McLaren: no Ferrari elements in team or car
Following the earlier news that a McLaren engineer has been suspended in connection with alleged theft of technical information from Ferrari, the British team have issued a second statement regarding the matter.


How did they know that there were no ferrari elements in the car?

 

...now read the YellowbirdRS new update from Ferrari press on the new thread...

 

As an attorney, I can usually call these things...and Mcl is guility. To wit: they are given docs, they do not discard them, they retain them for several months and do not self report. This despite the fact that they know people are questioning their newfound performance and that they will be under the microscrope.

Where there is smoke, in the racing field (pardon the pun) or any other, there is fire.

They will burn. Mark it down.

Happy 4th all.

 

Checked...It´s going to be a long battle.

 

There are two very funny aspects of this thread, at least to me.

First, if you honestly believe that Stepney sent only one "package" over to McLaren, you're clueless. Obviously in the grand scheme of things, I can't say that my theory was happening 100%, but if this was happening all year, it'd definitely have given McLaren time to leapfrog past Ferrari by Monaco. Only problem for McLaren is Stepney started to slip up right about then.

Secondly, anyone who honestly thinks that something as minuscule as chassis data is useless team-to-team, wheelbase-to-wheelbase is also clueless. These are the guys who built the f-ing cars. They know what they're looking at and what each tidbit of data means. They can analyze and compute Ferrari's chassis loads and vice versa, then apply the same data to their own cars and see where they stand. Do you think that Formula One engineers create a chassis in the winter and then just keep letting it rot and add more piece to it throughout the year, chassis unchanged? Christ. That said, do you honestly think Stepney would risk his money and his career sending useless information to McLaren when the charges would be the same no matter what he sent? Just about the only thing you can rule out that he didn't send is engine data; due to the freeze. Anything else was/is unfair game. Get out from under your rock.

 

If that is correct, then how do you justify this:

Pretty embarrassing for Ferrari, no?

 

+1

Thanks for injecting some common sense into this discussion, Carol. You took the words right out of my mouth.

 

Tit for tat.

Look back at 03, when the Michelin Runners started running better near the end of the season, Ferrari started protesting about the Tire Width that had been the same (which Ferrari knew about) the entire season.

Although this is different, lets wait to see what happens before the whole Lynch Mob Mentality takes effect. Oh and by the way, if I was McLaren I would be much more worried about copying than Ferrari, considering as a Constructor (historically speaking), Ferrari has very rarely had any original ideas in terms of chassis anyway. In the past they recruited and copied from the British teams.

 

If a media photographer is able to take pictures IN THE PIT LANE there's not much secret about the matter is there? The "disguised as a photographer" line is nonsense. They were looking at each other's cars all the time. Taking pictures is nothing to get all worked up about. If Ferrari were taking pictures at Woking it would be a different matter.

 

With regards to 03, although they may have known about the tires all season I believe they waited until it was to their greatest advantage to make an issue of it, all within the existing rules and regulations.

In the meantime, If it looks like......., smells like......., and tastes like......., then it probably is.

 

Valid point there, kind of like what McLaren did to Ferrari in Malaysia in 99 regarding the side pods.

I still think when this blows over, it will come down to the two guys.

 

When a car is out on the track or even in the garage with the doors open, its anybodys for picture taking. I remember about 5 years ago while working the molson indy here in Toronto, During the race a few cars went off in our corner and were pushed off the track right beside us. One of the cars belonged to Dario F. When Christian Dematta,s car died in the same corner minutes later he walked over and looked over Darios car like a hawk.He even loaded all his weight on the back wing. When I asked him what he was looking for he said that he was at a disadvantage in the cornering and was checking how much spring Dario had in his car. Its a whole different strory when your caught with hard informaton or printed matter that has gone missing from the competition. Its also a very cheap way of doing business. Of course Maclaren and company say they didnt know anything. Thats how these things work......always through someone else that is expendible when and if need be.