Right, and then no one at McLaren, RD especially, will be able to deny knowing anything about being in possession of the Ferrari docuements. Keep in mind, as it stands now, McLaren is ONLY quilty of in possession of confidential information and docuements from Ferrari. That' all, no big deal. Group hug everyone!!!
Its not that vague... Either McLaren was willing to use the documents or they were not. They didn't "Just look a little bit". Either we believe the affidavit or we do not. We do know that Coughlan wanted out of McLaren to go to another team for a higher salary, and he was out of F1 as soon as this whole mess started, so what motivation would he have to protect McLaren? If they were complicit in all this, I'd expect him to sell them down the river to save his own hide. I don't think anyone at McLaren was looking through the documents with any ideas to steal info (other than Coughlan) and I doubt Coughlan has control over every aspect of the team. He's not Ron Dennis. Just like if a marketing guy goes into the engineering dept and says "I have some input on how to run the fuel strategy", he's not going to sway anyone unless he says "and I got this info from the secret Ferrari documents!" at which point he will stop being listened to, if the team does not want any part of inter-team espionage. And if Coughlan told people about the docs and they didnt want to see them, then suddenly Coughlan comes up with a great new fuel strategy that he pitches to Ron, then a great new suspension set up that he pitches to the lead enginer, etc, it would be pretty obvious what was going on. I don't think any of that happened - there is absolutely no proof that it did. Some on here make outlandish ASSumptions and then want to base the penalty on their unproven assumptions (that happen to be very one sided and Ferrari-biased). Gimme a break. The FIA has never been out to get Ferrari (quite the opposite according to most). Nobody within the FIA has a chip on their shoulder against Ferrari and this decision happened because there is NO PROOF that Mac did anything wrong. I think there was probably infinitesimal benefit, if any, for McLaren stemming from Coughlans posession of the documents.
chief engineer of the team caught red handed with several hundred pages of their main rivals intellectual property and not even a slap on the wrist for mclaren!!!!!! what a slap on the face for ferrari and the many millions of racing fans worldwide fia judges should be used to crash test next years chassis with seatbelts on but without a hans now all ferrari has to do is start waving money under mclaren employee's noses and just keep everything at their homes oh ya ya fia favors ferrari allright pinicle of motorsports
OK Mike, When this is put into context, what part do you find so unrealistic? That F1 is a money game? That Bernie likes money? That Mercedes represents a large chunk of F1 money by themselves and by their competitive participation in the circus? That I didn't think Mercedes would significantly deprive the V-M-McL team of funding? That Mercedes may want to send a management level person to Woking to observe operations, protecting their investment after this blow-up? I think your response, is a bit out of scale.
Maybe. I don't see Ferrari, saying, OK. We're all friends again, so let's go Racing. Let's wait and see. This is just the beginning. The ball is in FERRARI'S COURT. Ciao...Paolo
rd ""Although I'm not completely comfortable with the outcome, the punishment fits the crime." he is still not comfortable with a zero penalty.....well then i guess the only thing that would make him comfortable is if ferrari had points taken away!!!!!!!!! even rd admits their is a crime but where oh where is the punishment that he says fits it for the love of christ somebody please explain how this guy has become so successful shovelling so much pig**** with a snowshovel
Hey, at least RD didn't scream "Rodney King, Rodney King!!!!!" in the court or accuse Ferrari of entrapment.
HAHAHAHAHA spoken like a true racer Andreas my tyres are always to blame (it's got nothing to do with the spinning out at turn 3 )
very true, he has come down hard on teams before today but I must say I am a little surprised as a 2 race penalty would have seen an evening up of both championships and a lot more interest in the remaining races and Max and Bernie share this great love of money. If I remember correctly Max was a motor racing lawyer and Bernie a "reputable" carsalesman .... hmmm the *'devil' or the 'deep blue sea' * RD is still lucifer I think the right decision was made, now let's see how far this espionage thing can be pushed, JT is sending a team of engineers over to McL with sliderules and CAD machines ... should all be above board according to the FIA, it only violates the sporting code and who said this was a sport ???
ENZO FERRARI. How do you think that "Il Commendatore," would have reacted to this FIA Ruling, in his day, and today? Ciao...Paolo
actually the old man might just have packed his bags for a couple of races so he could stamp his feet and demand attention like he'd done before
+1 And Ferrari sitting out even two races would cost Bernie and the FIA MILLIONS in lost revenue. Enzo knew exactly how far he could push, and the FIA never knew how far he might go...
In response to Senna3xWDC that Alonso is NOT UNHAPPY.... #108 Today, 12:09 AM PhilNotHill Formula 3 Silver Subscribed Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Aspen CO Full Name: Phil Posts: 2,039 ALONSO STILL UNHAPPY AT MCLAREN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.f1complete.com/content/view/5478/617/ Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
Drivers could quit McLaren if found guilty Thursday 26th July 2007 Fantasy F1 - Win a trip to Monaco! It's not too late, point scoring starts at the Bahrain GP. Click here. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso could both quit McLaren if the team is found guilty of 'fraudulent conduct' in today's FIA hearing. McLaren face the FIA's World Motor Sport Council in Paris today to answer charges of having 'unauthorised possession of documents and confidential information belonging to Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.' A great deal rests on the outcome of today's hearing, most notably McLaren's inclusion in this year's World Championship and the team's chances of winning the World title. However, it has now emerged that the team also risks the chance of losing both its drivers if found guilty. According to the Daily Mail, 'Hamilton's deal with McLaren, like that of team-mate Fernando Alonso, contains a clause allowing him to move to a rival should his "image" be damaged by proved malpractice.' COULDN'T HAPPEN TO A NICER BUNCH OF GUYS!
Ferrari furious with McLaren's reprieve By Pablo Elizalde Thursday, July 26th 2007, 16:39 GMT The Ferrari team have labelled as "incomprehensible" that the FIA has decided not to punish McLaren despite finding them guilty of possession of unauthorised documents. The FIA said after the Paris hearing that there was insufficient evidence to prove McLaren had benefited from leaked Ferrari data found at the home of their chief designer Mike Coughlan. The governing body said, however, that McLaren were guilty of having breached article 151c of the International Sporting Code. "Ferrari notes that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has been found guilty by the FIA World Council," said the Italian team in a statement. "It therefore finds it incomprehensible that violating the fundamental principle of sporting honesty does not have, as a logical and inevitable consequence, the application of a sanction. Today's decision legitimises dishonest behaviour in Formula One and sets a very serious precedent. "In fact, the decision of the World Council signifies that possession, knowledge at the very highest level and use of highly confidential information acquired in an illicit manner and the acquiring of confidential information over the course of several months, represent violations that do not carry any punishment. "The fact that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was in possession of such information was discovered totally by accident and, but for this, the team would continue to have it. This is all the more serious as it has occurred in a sport like Formula One in which small details make all the difference. "Ferrari feels this is highly prejudicial to the credibility of the sport. It will continue with the legal action already under way within the Italian criminal justice system and in the civil court in England."
First, I was hoping the WMSC meeting would publicly bring to light more of the facts than Ive heard.......as in any more. Second, the WMSC found McLaren guilty of a breach of the rules as stated in 151.c (not Coughlan individually). IMHO either McLaren should have been exonerated completely, or dealt with much more harshly.
would you want to hug Lucifer ? RD is only lying while his mouth is open, other than that I believe every word he says
Stepney deserves a lifetime ban - IF its proven he handedover the info (dont forget he says he didnt) Coughlin - maybe/maybe not, depends what he says, how he actually got it and what he did with it
In one of the Italian Newspapers; Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo added: "I just want to say to our fans, who are contacting Ferrari from all over the world and who are offended by the decision taken yesterday in Paris, that they can stay calm because this story doesn't end here." What would have ENZO FERRARI done? More important, what will Luca DO? So we await. Ciao...Paolo
NAStyCar doesn't have any trouble taking away points on a seemingly weekly basis. They are serious about their rules. Which is the only way to run a sport IMVHO. Their attendance and TV coverage seems to be fine. F1 are just a bunch of less than perfect humans who need to develop some intestinal fortitude.
