http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/070706160519.shtml If this whole mess turns out to be true, at least the people at Honda has enough sense to turn away Stepney's offer.
+1, I read that as well. Based on the article it looks like Coughlan was going to go with Stepney to Honda as well.
"It is also suggested that McLaren's managing director Jonathan Neale tried to prevent the affair from exploding by asking Coughlan to destroy the stolen Ferrari information before it had been copied or used or fully analysed." Coughlan reports to Dennis, Dennis reports to Neal (Managing Director). Neal knew but Dennis didn't. Right. Ron Dennis is a total liar. You can't believe ANYTHING he says IMVHO.
...on a side note, its weird to see all that info on the F1 live site...they are sponsored by McLaren and TAG Heuer...I guess they wont need any more BAD publicity now informing managing director Jonathan Neale knew this too... Ron Dennis will be VERY pissed
Guess the Honda guys had their fingers burnt before when, as the BAR team, they had personnel caught in the back of the McLaren trailer taking measurements of their car.
That was totally blown out of proportion. He lost a quarter underneath the McLaren, he needed it for the soda machine as he was really thirsty.
Still amazes me that two high profile engineers would involve themselves in this mess. Their careers are ruined. They say everyone has a price ...
They are low budget team - they printed all Honda's documentation in house to save money - so nobody knows about it.
Is it just me, or does something about the whole timing of these revelations smell a little like overripe fish? 1. Ferrari announces it has launched a careful investigation of its head engineer; Italian police approach Scotland Yard with request for search warrant. 2. McLaren Boss & Guru implicated with bloody papers on their hands. 3. At long last, Honda comes forward - well, we kind of knew about it but we refused to go along with them. Yeah, sure - so why didn't you say so way back in April? Or, heaven forbid - maybe Honda was the one to tip off Ferrari in the first place? I guess we will someday see this all spun into a Law & Order episode.
Prediction: Coughlan will lose his job and probably will be banned from F1 along with Nigel Stepney. Possibly: If it can be proven that Dennis knew about the documents, he will be gone too along with the managing director. A fish begins to smell from the head down. Couldn't happen to nicer and more deserving guys. If they don't ban the wrongdoers, espionage will just keep perpetuating itself and ruin the sport IMVHO.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/60550 Stepney, Coughlan approached Honda By Jonathan Noble Friday, July 6th 2007, 16:31 GMT Honda Racing have become embroiled in the espionage scandal surrounding Nigel Stepney after admitting on Friday that they were approached by the former Ferrari engineer and McLaren's Mike Coughlan for jobs earlier this year. Just minutes after McLaren boss Ron Dennis said that he had been informed of fresh developments in the affair by an unidentified 'third party', Honda issued a statement confirmed speculation that they too were involved in the spy scandal. "Given the speculation surrounding the legal investigations at Ferrari and McLaren, the Honda Racing F1 Team would like to clarify that earlier this year Nigel Stepney, formerly of Scuderia Ferrari, requested a meeting with Nick Fry, Chief Executive Officer of the Honda Racing F1 Team," said the team in a statement. "Nigel Stepney subsequently met in June of this year with Nick Fry and brought with him Mike Coughlan of McLaren, with a view to investigating job opportunities within the Honda Racing F1 Team. "Honda would like to stress that at no point during this meeting was any confidential information offered or received. Nick Fry informed Jean Todt and Ron Dennis of the meeting and has offered to provide any information required by Ferrari and McLaren." Speculation that more teams than McLaren and Ferrari were involved in the Stepney affair had been mounting over the day at Silverstone - with insiders suggesting that Honda would also be dragged into the matter. Although team boss Nick Fry refused several times during the course of the day to comment on the situation, in the end the statement was published in a bid to quell the mounting rumours about the level of his and Honda's involvement in the case. The confirmation of Honda's situation, and the nature of Fry's meeting with the two espionage suspects, makes it increasingly likely that the controversy is more about Stepney and Coughlan looking at future job prospects than out-and-out espionage. Dennis reiterated his belief that McLaren would be cleared of any wrongdoing in the matter, after confirming that fresh clarity had been brought to his view of the situation by a conversation between himself, Todt and Fry earlier in the day. "Three team principals discussed this situation this morning," he said. "Again it creates in some ways more clarity. "I want to be very correct in this process. The first thing that I did when I first learnt of this problem was to phone Jean Todt. The second was to phone Max Mosley and from the beginning we have been cooperative. "We immediately brought independent people into the company to analyse and go through a process. I feel that as much as the reputation of McLaren has been challenged and in some instances, all instances, unfairly challenged, the important thing is to set an example and to behave in a very correct way. "I can give a full and detailed understanding to everybody about what has happened over the last few months, but it is just inappropriate. The way of the world is that all the truth comes out. "Probably the thing that I have learned more than anything over the last few days is how fast people are prepared to jump into severe criticism of McLaren when it has had, certainly in the last 20 odd years, an impeccable reputation in every aspect of how it conducts its racing team and how it conducts its business affairs." And pre-empting Honda's confirmation about Coughlan and Stepney's approach, he said: "Over the next 48 hours there will definitely be more information available to people and some of that will give a better insight into motives and what lies behind some people's actions. But it is not for me to criticise. We will let things unfold. "This is all being conducted under civil law and therefore there are no police involved. But this does not mean there it does not follow a proper procedure. Too many people are quick to jump and criticise, and effectively condemn, but as in most things in life the truth will come out. I doubt there will be many apologies afterwards but the truth will come out."
And we are supposed to just swallow this hook, line, and sinker? Notice the little gem "there are no police involved"? I bet you hope not, dude.
Haven't you ever not told the big boss something and tried to squash it as a supervisor? I know i have. Dennis probably didn't know anything, you're getting excited to soon.
Again, this is racing. They'll all part of a racing series that enforces its own set of rules. That's like going to the police and filing a report after Sato hits you causing your car to crash...
The point I was making is this: Why would he emphasize this statement of "no police"...? And what is this garbage of "I could tell you everything, but that would not be appropriate"? Whatever happened to "the investigation is ongoing, NO COMMENT"? I really think that Ferrari (and maybe, just maybe Honda) have handled the PR over this 1000 times better. Look - people were hauled into criminal court for peddling the formula of Coke, for crying out loud.
Although it is racing, it isn't out of bounds for the law... all parties involved are regular companies, a lot of money is in the game, and what Stepney did is just the same as if a Microsoft employee walked out the gates (no pun intended) of Redmond with a laptop crammed with source code under his arm and gave it directly to Apple...
