Pete, As I am sure you know, Ferrari ownership is not required for membership or general acceptance by the F-Chat participants. The friction in this case, is that Sen, called out 355, saying ... 355 has shown his, has returned the call, so to speak and rightfully so, IMO. As anybody here that knows me knows, like you, I love old McLarens. I "cut my teeth" watching them run the USRRC and CanAms. My three favorite teams left in F1 are Ferrari (of course), McLaren and Williams. My instincts on this whole situation and a lot of the things that have come out since the start, simply [size=+1]smell really bad[/size].... and I have had a feeling from the beginning, that Team McLaren unfortunately, will not be found guiltless. Regards, Bill
John, I'm an Alfisti through and through and thus completely understand the passion thing, and the connection (but motor racing has shown be there is little connection between track and street) and also would rather Alfa Romeo would close their doors than continue to make the current cr@p (ie. cars without the soul of an Alfa Romeo). I've been a Ferrari follower in F1 since I first watched F1 20+ years ago, but this has come about through reading of the history books ... hence the Alfa Romeo thing. But I am also a McLaren fan simply because of Bruce, and like it or not I have to respect RD for what he has achieved in F1. As for the drive John, I've never been a fan of driving other peoples cars, although I made an exception to drive a 1750 GTV a year or so ago because I've been restoring mine for so long ... My father used to be a service manager for a dealership (in NZ) that would work on the ocassional Ferrari ... he's not an Italian car fan though, being more into Porsches and Mercedes, etc. I can understand that from a mechanics point of view. One day I might buy one, but I'm not sure anymore. Used to be a big want, but now I'm hankering for a Ducati ... and if the opportunity comes up in the future I'm not sure I want to invest that much money in but a road car, when I could go so much faster with a full on race car . I'm more of a racing fan ... and will never be able to afford a 250 LM which is the Ferrari I really want. As for Senna3xWC's post regarding model cars (I've got a couple by the way ), it is disapointing but lets be more mature and move along. Pete
I have just started reading this thread and after a few chuckles have to say that 355 is right on the money.. He has stepped out.. The bottom line is that we all have a passion for the car and race world.. What you drive does not make you any smarter in this thread.. Just luckier at life.. I own cars from both stables and really love them both.. BUT !! my F-car makes me feel great the merc makes me feel ok.. Give em hell 355...
I want to grow old disgracefully I'm succeeding I hope as for the drive thing, I rarely offer my car but would be glad to take you for a spin (well not literally as you know my record with Ferraris from a few years ago ) I love ALFAs (good friend had the only surviving G1 in the world until a few years ago when he sold it to a speculator) and the racing heritage which spawned Nuvolari, Campari, Ferrari, etc etc, a great era when the P3s ruled the world and my all time favourite car is the 33 stradale alfa made with that gorgeous little V8 Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hmmm, my view of that is Stepney really was pissed with Ferrari and wanted to stuff them. Pity the other side did not tell him to piss off ... Pete
Your passion sounds much more like fanaticism to me. If the Stepney e-mail is true then McLaren is looking pretty screwed right now. I don't see how the FIA couldn't come down hard on them.
I find this all so very difficult to believe. It would be interesting to hear Norbert Haug's and Mercedes' position on all of this - remember Mercedes is in the background and has been VERY quiet. I personally think they are going to have some difficult choices.
Can somebody please answer whether McLaren have actually done anything wrong regarding the FIA rules. How could there be a rule that says you must not know anything about your competitors car and tactics?. Impossible. Thus McLaren have broken the IP law but not done anything wrong regarding F1, thus nothing can be done within F1 and legal proceedings will be 100% about IP and sueing McLaren from Ferrari. This is a very important question, IMO the FIA cannot do anything as McLaren could protest straight back, ie: Any team knows that the F2007 Ferrari uses x, y and z just from observation, thus the same rule would apply. You cannot say oh but you knew secret information ... like what is that? Pete
Umm do you not think finding a 780 page document in a member of the oppositons home might have something to do with that.?
Please, Pete. There is a large difference between the studied and learned analysis of a competitor's car based upon first hand observation and acting upon information that, either wittingly, or unwittingly, was obtained through illicit means. There can be no denying that McLaren lodged protest against Ferrari's moving splitter based upon knowledge that they obtained, albeit unwittingly, via illicit means. The number two guy at McLaren royally screwed the pooch on this one, and it should cost him his job. He mishandled this on every level and it will cost McLaren image, money, and WCC/WDC points. Ultimately, many factors will come into play in regards to McLaren's punishment. First and foremost will be the image of F1. There is no way that McLaren can have all WDC points stripped or be banned for more than two races because doing so would taint F1 and a Ferrari WDC victory. Secondly, letting McLaren off would likewise taint any WDC for Lewis/Alonso and make F1 look stupid. The FIA, nor McLaren or Ferrari want a WDC to be decided by punitive actions, in large. I'd wager that McLaren will be found guilty of violating sporting rule 15.01.C.A (made that one up, might as well post photos of underpants), they will lose all WCC points and will face a two race ban and some trivial fine that will be roughly ~ to Elton John's dry cleaning bill. What all this will amount to is: Ferrari gets to be made Even Steven with McLaren via a two race ban for Woking; Formula One gets to save face by not making it too easy for Ferrari or too hard on McLaren, the sport saves face and the WDC will be more or less where it really would be, after all. 1. McLaren will lose all WCC points; 2. McLaren's drivers will keep their WDC points but suffer from a two race ban; 3. Four years from now, Stepney and Coughlin will be employed at an adult sex toys factory, charged with pouring latex into dork molds of Ron Jeremy's lumberjack.
Fernando Explains Stepneygate To Cousin Pedro Monday 16th July 2007 Fantasy F1 - Win a trip to Monaco! It's not too late, point scoring starts at the Bahrain GP. Click here. With its well-placed sources, Planet-F1 has obtained copies of the latest letter between Fernando Alonso and his Mexican cousin Pedro who lives in the United States. Find out what Fernando explanation of Stepneygate. To Cousin Pedro, Preston, Idaho Hola hombre Ay ay ay, no es bueno! I am sorry to say this but I have the difficult time in F1 right now. Not with Hamil-ton either. We have big scandal in F1 right now and if it comes out bad, they take my points. I am not happy. It start at the beginning of the season with a guy called Nigel Stepney, who work for Ferrari for a long time and then get passed over for the big job when his boss leave to go fishing. He is not happy to get the cleaning-toilets job. The next thing we read in the papers is that the Ferrari team have found some white powder near the fuel tanks and they say, "Nigel, he try and sabotage the car with the white powder near the fuel tanks." Nigel say back that after working in F1 for many years the only white powder he knows is used by Flavio Briatore in his cappuccino. Then he says the frightening thing; "after working at Ferrari for 15 years I knows where the bodies are buried."(sic) Ferrari boss Jean Todt say there are 900 people who work for Ferrari and they have all been accounted for. Then it gets worse. They say the Mac-Laren designer, Mike, has been copying the Ferrari plans for 2007, because they find a big dossier at his home. They think Nigel send it, but they no sure. They know it's there because a guy in a photo-copy shop blow the big whistle. Now everybody in the whole world has a view. I say this. If he was going to photo-copy it for Mac-Laren why does he not take it into work and photo-copy it there...? Free of charge. Is no rocket science. Then we find out Honda have interviewed Nigel and Mike for jobs. Honda are in big trouble because they sack their old designer and now their 2007 cars is aperro. Muy mal. Already they have hired the Williams aero guy, and the BMW technical guy and they speak to these two guys too. Perhaps together they want to build a Mac-Rari. The British are poco loco. If this photo-copy shop was in Maranello, can you imagine the guy ringing up my boss Ron Dennis and saying "Ferrari have got your plans, this is not correct." No, they just smile the big smile - 780 pages is a big order. Now the FIA don't like my boss because he argues a lot want and him to explain how the Mac-Laren designer have their plans. And if it's not a good story then Fernando gets his points taken away. Is always Fernando who suffers. Dios mio - me, always me. Lewis Hamil-ton say to me "Lighten up, dawg! Stop bein' the manic depressive Spanish mo fo. The big guy'll deliver fo sho!" That's how he talks when the cameras are not near because he thinks it's cool to be a gansta rapper. But he knows nothing. Hasta luego, Your cousin, Fernando END OF LETTER FA always suffers. I am soooooo sad for him. Is FA a whiner? Si! Forza Ferrari
Maybe unwittingly. If Ron Dennis was going to lodge a formal FIA protest, I would think he'd want to know where this information, that his senior engineer was giving him, came from. Coughlan surely wasn't under the Ferrari's floorboards watching, while it was screaming down the fast straights. IMO... If RD did ask and Coughlan responded, "You don't want to know," it is just as incriminating for RD and the team.
Don't blame me, blame Planet-F1. It's their article. Life is too short not to own a Ferrari and be an F1 racing fan. Ciao
Dennis slams affidavit leaks Ron Dennis at the Nurburgring slammed the leaks into the media of suspended McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan's sworn affidavit. Ahead of Thursday's meeting of the World Motor Sport Council to assess his team's involvement in the espionage saga, McLaren chairman Dennis accused some of the privileged few of improperly giving selected and inaccurate quotes attributed to Coughlan to the Italian press. He did name Ferrari specifically, but hinted that there will be "legal implications" for the source of the leaks. "There is a way to go through life, and that is to follow the correct procedures," he told reporters in Germany after qualifying for the European grand prix. END OF ARTICLE Did they mean to say He did not name Ferrari specifically? As written it doesn't amke sense. http://www.f1complete.com/content/view/5423/617/
Dennis may end up eating those words soon...."There is a way to go through life, and that is to follow the correct procedures,"
