Stepney warned Coughlan of Ferrari floor (Autosport report)

If its true, its a pretty convincing non-technical explanation for how such a subtle thing was picked up on by McLaren.

 

This is the nail in the coffin for Mclaren.

 

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Now that had to hurt !!!!

If a server or an ISP, pulls up a record of an email, McLaren is probably done for 2007 !!

 

Exactly! Why would you put something like that in an eMail? He really must have been angry and was not thinking clearly...

 

I think it would be kind of unfair to the McLaren drivers that a Ferrari employee ruined everything because of sour grapes.

Sort of like Robert Horry taking out Steve Nash in the 2nd round of the NBA western conference playoffs. Put in the scrub bench player to take out the best player on the opposing team.

I would have to say both sides are at fault. To what magnitude I don't know, but it's not like McLaren sneaked into Ferrari's building and stole papers. A Ferrari guy handed it to them. How about we just remove all points from McLaren and Ferrari and let BMW Sauber have the championship, mmmkay?

 

and he accepted it. but yes. i agree, both Hami and Fred's hard work could be just gone like that..

 

Well, if a team was alerted that another team was cheating with a movable aerodynamic part, I think it would be their duty to report it so the FIA/FOM investigates more. I don't think they used that info to design their own version. Just found out a rule was possibly being broken because of it being "movable."

 

true, but i think the way he found out about it isn't the right way. plus, i read somewhere that Ferrari's floors flexed upwards, and not downwards, as flexing downwards is against the rules.

not sure where i read that, or even if i even read it correctly. but just pointing out.

 

Well, from the way I remember and understand the ruling, on the floor issue, the specific regs regarding floor flex, only addressed one direction of movement - UPWARD. The Ferrari floors moved down, the rules were amended after the McLaren complaint, to include downward movement as well, effectively banning the Ferrari floors. The Ferrari floors, were not illegal before the change/amendment to the rules. Ferrari was not cheating on that issue, as I remember it.

 

Sorta like people complaining of Renault's movable weight in the nose? Exactly. They used it for years until then and someone magically found out about it and *****ed. Causing a rule change to ban that system. Sound familiar?

 

IIRC, the moving weights, didn't require a rules change, they were already covered under already existing regs. The only action taken was, a decision as to how the moving ballast related to the rules "on the books." Because it influenced ride height, the rules committee, decided that is was a device, with an "active" effect on aerodynamic elements. Therefore, not allowed.

 

Right on the money again Bill.

 

Isnt this like if a lawyer gave info to the other party lawyer , wouldnt the second lawyer be forbidden to use this information ?

 

The honest thing to do would be to tell the FIA about the moving floor and how they got the information.

But they wanted to keep the information about SF coming to them because it gives them an unfair advantage over their biggest rival. This is cheating pure and simple. If true, McL is done for this year.

Note RD said the SF intellectual property didn't end up on the McL cars. But he didn't say the information was used to change the SF cars to McL's advantage. Game, set, match SF.

 

This what i have been saying since the begininng about IP. You dont need to apply it to your product to gain advantage . Just knowing how your competitor works is enough to gain unfair advantage.

 

Must be noted that the movable weight was banned after a complain from McLaren. Mmm... now maybe we can add Renault to this mess.

 

I agree with you, if it the current suspected facts about a Ferrari employee are true. I remember reading a story a while ago about a Coke employee offering Pepsi Cokes formula. Pepsi immediately exposed the person without accepting the formula. So while it may be a Ferrari employee who started this mess, McLaren should not have accepted the info. I think coping parts using photos, high speed cameras, listening devices for engine sounds, all that stuff is cool between teams

 

Actually, RD said that there were no "elements" of Ferrari engineering present on the current McL cars.

Which is very carefully worded and a far cry, from a wholesale denial of previous knowledge of the information in question, the use of said information and data for development and/or harassment.

 

That logic still escapes me: A part completely enclosed inside the body work is considered a movable aero device and therefore banned?

With that same "logic" they could ban springs and shocks: These devices lower the car under aerodynamic pressure. So they are an aero help and because they are compressable, they are a moving aero device, hence ought to be banned.

The real reason the mass dampers were banned was to keep the 2006 championship interesting. Ironically their ban had little effect anyhow.