SF HIRE STEVENS TO INVESTIGATE STEPNEGATE

Ferrari hire Lord Stevens to investigate Stepneygate
Wednesday 25th July 2007

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Ferrari have hired Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led the inquires into corruption in English football and the death of Princess Diana, to investigate the Stepneygate crisis.


Quest, the forensic intelligence agency chaired by Stevens, will probe how a 780-page dossier, detailing secret Ferrari technical information, was allegedly passed on to McLaren designer Mike Coughlan.


"I can confirm that Quest have been retained by Ferrari, as evidenced by mention of Quest in papers filed at the High Court. I am unable to confirm the nature of Quest's engagement at this stage," a spokesman for the organisation told The Daily Telegraph.


The crisis will be the focus of an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Thursday. However, The Telegraph speculates that 'It is unlikely that Quest and Stevens will have played any role in tomorrow's FIA hearing. Instead, Stevens and Quest are expected to focus on helping Ferrari assemble evidence in their civil action, brought at the High Court, against Coughlan. Their inquiries could also have some bearing on Ferrari's separate criminal action against Stepney in Italy.'

PLANET F1

 

http://www.f1complete.com/content/view/5486/617/

 

This should really start getting interesting, wonder what will happen tomorrow.

 

I wouldn't count on it, as FIA may not do anything at all. This season, no matter what the outcome is, has already been tainted beyond repair. Too many questions with no answers and we will probably never know the truth. It is almost funny how much unrest issues surrounds major professional sports today, Barry Bonds/MLB, Ref on the take/NBA, legal problems/NFL and spy scandle/F1.

 

I had posted the samething about the fact that this season is going to be tainted as well. It is a sad fact, especially as the competition on the track has been great with four drivers with a chance to grab the WDC.

 

IF all the allegations are true and McLaren does have all the SF data would the season be this close?

 

There goes Maserati Profit !

 

Well Gang, this is where the rubber meets the road!!!

The fact finding will be disclosed and hopefully JUSTICE and TRUTH, will be done. We will see.

Ciao...Paolo

 

Add the TdF to that list.

 

Remember that McLaren won zero races last season. Now they are challenging Ferrari blow-for-blow in the championship.
That's some serious progress!

 

And the year before that, they won 10 GPs. Go figure

 

...IMO they´ve been lost since Hakinnen was at the wheel, they havent made a proper package since 1999 season...they were VERY desperate, they lost Adrian Newey and all the heavy names last year to Red Bull, to Toyota...

...Mercedes was thinking in taking over and getting rid of RD and buying his share...

I think they have been on our info since early on the year...not even the season.

that is some serious progress...and coming back to a new tire AGAIN...go figure

 

This may be one of the few times I ever heard of a party advertising the fact that they have hired a private detective.

I thought one usually tried to keep such things a secret, to make it easier for the detective to go undercover and get the real dirt dug up.

Remember how many times Lt. Deal asked Jim Rockford "ok - so who's your client"?

So - is this possibly a PR play, given the obvious timing? Maybe an act of slight intimidation to the FIA to make sure they do a serious investigation?

Or, am I just being a little cynical?

 

+1...I was shocked they have the guts to try that this year too...

 

Are you talking about the dog that took down the cyclist?

 

This may just be a coincidence but Mclaren seem to do better on hard tires than on soft. During the peak of the tire wars McLaren couldn't even match Williams, much less Ferrari. Then in 2005 with the single tire per weekend rule, they dominated. Back to the softs in 2006 and again they fell off the pace. Now with only Bridgestones available and thus harder compunds, they are competitive again. This could be an explanation for their sudden return to form this year. At least I hope so because if it turns out that they're guilty it will screw up a really great season!

 

IMO, a few potentially huge problems for McLaren, in convincing the FIA it was all coincidental are...

1) The (alleged) emails from Stepney to Coughlan very early in the season...

2) (allegedly) McLaren didn't have little people, riding under the Ferraris at top speed, observing the behavior of the floorboards, to know to request the fine-tuning of the regulations and for RD to make the type of statements he did, to the media before the FIA ruled on it.

3) The police (allegedly) found the 780 pages at Coughlan's house

4) The (alleged) fact that a number of highly placed members of Team McLaren, were aware of the Ferrari documents, in Coughlan's possession, for over three months.

 

+1...I´m worried about they doing nothing against McLaren...

 

Then again the ALLEGED facts IMO are just WAY too bad for them to get away "untouched"

 

Yes. Me thinks that there is large sums of money involved. "Sports" have gone from sports to high stakes business today. It is not just about winning, it's the money.

Stepney has allegedly received "millions of pounds" for the SF information. If so, who gave it to him and where did they get that kind of money. If coughlan, where did he get that kind of money?

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

 

Or, more specifically - doing nothing against McLaren which will hurt Mr. Hamilton's WDC chances.

However, if I were in their shoes (FIA) I too would be pretty hesitant to legislate the championship in a courtroom rather than letting it happen on the track. Which is why I would probably be for banning Stepney and Coughlin for life, and assess an appropriate fine to MCL ONLY if there is clear evidence they had a hand in the theft other than the actions of the one guy.

And, along that line, I am just hoping and praying that both teams involved can discipline themselves to not whine about it after the deal is done. You have to actually feel a little sorry for horrible old Bernie on this one - for sure, whatever they do is very likely to pizz off both sides.

 

YES! a HOT DOG covered with WHITE BLOOD CELLS instead of ketchup sauce...

 

I don't think Ferrari made a public announcement about this hiring, the media probably just dug it out from somewhere. I am sure all eyes are on this whole unfortunate episode.

McLaren-Mercedes may not be as important as Ferrari to FIA, it is still in FIA's best interest to have McLaren-Mercedes as part of Formula One. Much in the same way that Batman needs Joker, Superman needs Lex Luthor and Ferrari needs McLaren-Mercedes. I don't know about you, but beating up on Red Bull or Spyker is just not the same as beating RD and M-M.

 

...in the light of the ALLEGED events...then I´d leave McLaren points deducted to EVEN with Ferrari, and the 4 drivers tied at the Ferrari points level...

Constructors and drivers championships TIED with 7 races to go...

SO everybody wins...and a season finalle killer...

sort of...NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY OR DO FERRARI is the most DAMAGED PART...those papers had the Future plans, future Research And Development...

That is the worst by far...who cares about this season? what about the next decade?

 

Anthony, I think McL-Merc may actually be MORE IMPORTANT to the FIA today than is SF simply because of the Lewis Hamilton factor. He is the most exciting thing to happen to this sport in years. And you are right - bringing back Minardi or Jaguar is not exactly what the fans are looking for in terms of competition.