Ron: McLaren probably won`t appeal Saturday 15th September 2007 Play Jenson's SEIKO Challenge Take part and you could win a superb SEIKO watch. ENTER NOW! Ron Dennis has indicated his team is willing to pay the £50million fine for their part in the spy scandal if there is "complete closure." The FIA hammered McLaren in the pocket following a second hearing of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Thursday, as well as stripping the team of all constructors' points for this season. The drivers' championship was unaffected after FIA president Max Mosley granted Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso immunity from punishment, leaving them free to fight for the title. Dennis now has until next Thursday to decide whether to appeal, and if he does so then it will be "in the interests of the sport." However, it appears Dennis now wants to draw a line in the sand, and is inclined to let the matter rest providing rivals Ferrari do likewise. Civil action is ongoing against Nigel Stepney in Italy and Mike Coughlan in England with regard to the theft of Ferrari technical information. However, Dennis does not want this matter to "drag on" for anything up to two years through the civil courts. Speaking after the FIA announced their findings yesterday, Dennis said: "Everything in this document that the FIA says is true. True in their content. It happened. "But there is only one thing that I feel is not appropriate. This is a fine so disproportionate to the reality of the situation. "So the decision I have is not whether to appeal their findings. It is: do I appeal the fine? Does McLaren take a financial hit in the interests of the sport? "Once I have reached a decision I will make a recommendation to my shareholders, and it is they who will decide. "If we do not appeal this it will be because we want closure. "Do you really think it's a great backdrop for Formula One and my company if we've one-and-a-half to two years of legal aggravation with my management that is not there for that? "They are there to focus on making race-winning cars and enter into commercial relationships with sponsors. "I have had letters, emails and faxes that have streamed into me over the last 24 hours, and not one sponsor is not committed to staying with this racing team and backing us to the hilt. "So I don't want to drag them into it. I don't want to drag this thing out, if I can get closure. "Closure is for Formula One, and it has to be complete closure." Dennis concedes McLaren can take "the hit", with half the fine to come from the prize money they would have received at the end of the season. The remaining £25million is appreciably significant to which he added: "There is not one team in the pit lane, save for the manufacturers - and even then - who could take a US dollars 100million hit. "We are a debt-free company, so at the end of the day we can swallow it. "I hope the other teams understand the financial penalty we will swallow in the interests of the sport. "The important thing to us is the company's integrity, and the firm belief of the world that we have never competed with a car that has anybody else's technology in it. "We want to win fair and square, and if the penalty for that is money - putting aside the points because it's about money in the end - then that's the penalty. "If the perception by you guys (the media) and the public is that McLaren did not cheat, we did everything we could to co-operate, then we probably will take the financial hit - if there is closure and it is in the interests of the sport." END OF PLANET 1 ARTICLE What Does Dennis the Menace mean by closure? No more investigations? No more penalties and/or fines? Sounds like a plea bargain IMVHO.
It does sound like he is trying to bargain. Maybe he wants the civil/criminal case that Ferrari is pursuing to go away.
