Half A.. decisions by the FIA again! They say McL is guilty of using the information in building their car. They say they need to be punished because they received a gain from illegal activity. HOWEVER, the drivers that gained from these illegal cars should remain in the fight for the championship despite them not being where they are if they would not have used illegal information in the first place. Go figure!
I beleive one of the reasons the drivers were spared was that they helped with the investigation. Armando
wow..thats crazy! So who gets the $100M, FIA? or the sport? The team loses their earnings for the yr; any idea how much earning that may be?
The 100 million figure is inclusive of business lost. In other words no one will go hungry. http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2007/9/6767.html Armando
"Yes you shot the old lady with that gun but since you helped in the investogation you get to keep the gun and the money...." I don't think you will find that crap in SCCA but I would certainly not expect it from the FIA.
FIA gave the drivers amnesty if they cooperated. Would be wrong to go back on that promise, but then, that promise was wrong.
Just when we thought they (McL) were going to say "Prosit" at the end of the season, now we all sing "Auguri". Grazie FIA and Max M.
Amnesty of what? Amnesty so they can keep their illegally obtained points? They should have obtained amnesty from not getting their FIA license stripped. Fine. Keeping points AND being allowed to use a car that was developed with the help of illegal material???? Now there is a message you need to send your kids: Cheat and when you get caught, cut a deal.
Last weekend, the buzz around the pits was in fact Nigel did it and everyone knew it. It was just a matter of proving it which they succeeded in doing. I believe the the drivers points are fruit from the poisonous tree and therefore should be removed or a least stopped from getting more (Ill gotten gains). All sesson long I was saying that McClaren has come relatively out of being a third place team to nearly dominating. Hats off to the drivers talents so I thought. Now? Regardless, I am sure there was more info passed that the public is not privy too. That is the reason McClaren has been 1,2 or 3 all season long. Just my 2 cents and don't want to even go there in Euros!!!
It took Ferrari 5 years to come from 3-4 th place team to win a WDC. That with one of the best drivers that have ever lived driving for them. I am sure McL is so much more qualified. They really did not hire other people to achieve this neither did they go from a bad driver (Kimi...) to a good driver (Hamilton). It stinks and it stinks royal!
The FIA gave all three McLaren drivers amnesty if they came forward with any proof that allegations against McLaren were true. It is thought that Alonso spilled the beans. Sure this was a political move, but the info received caused Ron Dennis to admit the truth, thus the fines. Without this info, McLaren could have gotten away with their lies, again. The FIA could not prove that any Ferrari info was used to improve the already built 2007 McLaren as the Ferrari plans did not come into McLaren possession until the middle of March. But they will inspect the 2008 McLaren to determine if any Ferrari info was used. They reserved the right to impose penalties at that time.
That is definately how things work in this country. Don't get me started on option back dating and golden parachutes. .m
FIA split the ruling and seemed to cave on the side of saving the season (money) Reminds me of this Monty Python skit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuY-4eJqKvs Blackmail Inc - (catching London's important businessmen in the act) The punch line- "Seriously...we are not judging you, WE JUST WANT THE MONEY" .
Not quite. The information exchange dated back to around Christmas last year. They knew that there were emails between Alonso and de le Rosa. They suspected emails between Hamilton as well. All they needed to do it to say, guys if you do not want to get your FIA license revoked hand over those emails. If not we will go after you. The FIA knew exactly what they were looking for when they asked for emails between Alonso and de la Rosa. Based on that if they refused to hand them over, the FIA could have simply revoked their FIA licenses and that would have been the end of it. It is wrong in every sense to allow the drivers to keep points obtained with a car that has to be questioned. It is wrong to continue to allow that car to be on the race track. I would have stripped the team of all points, the drivers of all points and would have told them thsi car will not drive in any race anymore. Use the 06 car if you want to race.
The example that will be set with this decision is going to destroy the sport. It has done it with baseball, boxing and bicycle riding. The Tour de Dope is the best example. Olympic games? Who will get caught next year... Sports figures as role models? Lets do some dog fighting and kill them if they don't perform. Poor Michael Vick, he will lose his $100M contract. I feel sorry for him. Biting ears of your competitor. Poor "whats his dumb face's name" he got frustrated and bit Holly's ear. Barry "I own the steroid store" Bonds....what can I say.
In my experience and using every other sport as an example, if McLaren is doing this, I would bet money that others are as well, today and in the past. Very rarely is it just ONE. Anyone catch what is happening with the New England Patriot's? Very similar. Look at the introduction of SOX compliance. The steroid problem in sports. Martin's race last week.... Spec Miata my ass... Euromotorsports.... etc. The list goes on. I think we tend to think that there is honor in this world. It appears to me that this is dead. Money and fame has made people very, very greedy. It has completely eroded "honor". And as Martin noted before, we as people, seem to be extremely forgiving of these mistakes. Everyone is now allowed an opinion on what is "fair". It is most unfortunate that the most popular, typically the ones with the most money, have the loudest voices, and those, in theis country account for 5% of the population are able to catch the ears over 95% of the rest. Back to topic though... While McLaren did wrong, I look to the FIA as the problem. They have the power to control this behavior. Obviously people were blind to the corruption that exists in sports, and it was a "that could never happen to us" attitude. Now it has, and everyone knows. If they were smart they would start implementing "SOX" like controls for R & D and communication. The FIA is suppose to be impartial, so it's time to open up the books and the lines of communication. .m
We have become the ultimate: "I am sorry..." generation. I am sorry I raged on the jews (Mel Gibson) I am sorry I drove drunk! (gosh...where do you start...Mel Gibson...) I am sorry I hit on congessional pages.... (Fowley) I am sorry I voted against gay rights while sleeping with my boyfriend...(Gov. of New Jersey) I am sorry I hit on the undercover officer in a toilet...(another compassionate conservative) I am sorry I killed those dogs...(Vick) I am sorry but I really don't want to hear "I am sorry.." anymore! It is time that we, as buyers of their products, watchers of their movies, voters etc. say: "Great you are sorry, here is a gallon of fuel and here is a match....burn on the stake!" ...oh, I am sorry if anyone feels offended by my remarks!
Mike: you are right, they all do it. They all try to get their advantage one way or the other. The problem is when you are stupid and get caught. To then cry wolf because what? ..you were not caught before?? As for the Spec Miatas: you are right, they are not really "spec" but for that specific series they were allowed to run with those non-spec engines. The lesson learned for me is: we are building right now a barely legal Spec engine with min tolerances. It is expensive but it will be the stronges out there that IS still legal. That one we will race in SCCA. Then I am building a non-SCCA Spec engine. That one will have more HP and will be allowed to run in FARA and those organizations that do not restrict what you can do with an engine. With that one I will smoke the guys with the "Spec-Cheater" engines. The difference, it will be legal!
Martin, according to Coughlin's statement, he was handed the Ferrari dossier the middle of March, 2007. He received Stephney's first call about his displeasure of not getting the promotion at Ferrari in early March. Curious what happened in December 2006? If the facts given the FIA show an earlier date, then the final report will show that. Right now all that has been made public is the March 2007 date. Rumor is that Alonso did provide information as to e-mails based on getting amnesty.
I take it you are going to go with a stand alone then? Or piggy back? If so then you are going to the dyno? Would love to be there watch and even help with tuning / dyno operation. I have about 100 hours on the steady state and about 30 on the chassis ones. .m
They were friends from way back when. McL received information from Stepheny late December about the "flexing floo" which subsequently McL questioned the FIA if it was legal at the first race. The actual document was not handed over until March. Now lets be realistic here. Stepheny is not happy and decided...lets copy a book and hand it to McL. Let me not even call them if they are interested let me simply copy it and drop it by them in March. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/62348 In the article the Italian police clearly shows "chatter" between the two increased at test days, as early as the Australian Test day. They started "sharing" way before. Again, McL came from being the 3rd best team with Kimi as a driver over night to be the top team of the season that nobody can touch? The same took Ferrari 5 years to achieve? sniff...sniff....I smell a rat and it smells like fish n' chips!
If you read through the article you see that Alonso did not get Amnesty on his Championship points. He got Amnesty from being expelled from the FIA (at least they got that right). To let him keep the points he obtained with his and de la Rosa's illegal and unsportsmanlike behavior is a travesty for the sport. It shows how disconnected we are from reality these days. It is more important to make a good show than to make a legal show.
I will let you know. I keep out of it. My job is to write the check. My engine builder and my mechanic make the magic happen.
