Ron Dennis says there is no Ferrari technology on his cars but?

Question

if he does not know anything about the information that was leaked to mclaren,then how does he know if the technology has been used or not by the designer on this year mclaren?

2/ why are the mclarens suddenly 1/2 a second slower than the ferrari's, when a few weeks ago they where over 1 second a lap quicker.

3/ Max Mosley hinted yesterday that the driver would not lose points but the mclaren team might lose constructors points,what more does he know than he saying?

Answer 1

First off, this year's McLaren was designed last year, before the data was stolen.

Point 2: It takes months for design changes to take place. Everything had to be tested in a wind tunnel, then manufactured, then put on the car, it isn't as simple as copying.

Point 3: Ferrari were nowhere in N. America, where typically they are very good. They had issues due to their longer wheelbase, and with strategy, etc. Personally, I do not know what has happened with McLaren recently, but I know that it has nothing to do with the data Mike Coughlan had. Again it's is not as simple as taking "bits" off the car.

You will be aware that Coughlan and Nigel Stepney had a meeting with Nick Fry in June. Fry may or may not have known about the stolen data (I doubt he did) but they were looking to work at Honda. So I don't think that McLaren would have had any "benefit" out of the data, as Coughlan was looking to move teams. It would make no sense to help McLaren then move. I believe that McLaren didn't even know about the data. Also, Coughlan and Stepney are good friends.

Mosley had to say that, it is how the FIA works. If ANY team is in the wrong, they will be penalised. However, I doubt very much that any of the teams will lose points due to Stepneygate.

Answer 2

Conspiracy freaks crack me up. If McLaren did anything with the data they got from Ferrari, it was to look at it and see if there was any damning evidence of regulations violations or something they could get Ferrari in trouble with. That's about all they could do. Actual technology from one car to another is not really that big a secret -- they don't share info, of course, but they all have similarly-qualified engineers and drivers doing the same jobs, it's not hard for them to figure it out. Stuff like internal organization, finances, things like that are the juicy secrets, from their point of view.
What Moseley said is probably a pretty good forecast. Even though McLaren would derive relatively little benefit from Ferrari material, the fact that they had it would be a violation of sporting and business standards. If that's as far as it goes, the team would (and I think should) suffer, but that doesn't have any direct impact on race performance or results. The only way it would affect the drivers is if it were found they personally were involved in handling the stolen materials, or if indeed, proprietary technology from Ferrari was in fact used by McLaren. Either of those scenarios, I doubt, but I guess we'll hear more.

Answer 3

The cars are designed before the season starts but have parts added nearly the whole way through a season. Perhaps Ferrari have just found the right parts to add to their car and Mclaren are almost doing too much to what was a near perfect car - not knowing when to stop fussing kind of thing. It's an on-going investigation so I think it's a case of watch this space - should be interesting as Honda have now come out of the woodwork (rather late) - will any other teams come out too?

Answer 4

I can totally see your point, and I had the same question at first; and I am a major McLaren fan, so I am not biased.

That said, as others pointed out, the Ferraris were actually faster in a straight line than the McLarens. One other thing to remember is just how good and fast Alonso is driving ANY car (see his track record from driving the Minardi), and just how good and fast Hamilton is (see his GP2 record).

I think--obviously this is just my opinion--someone in Ferrari lit a fire under Kimi and said, get your crap in order because you're driving car #1 for Ferrari and you haven't taken a win since Australia. Massa is kicking your butt. Start racing like a champ again, or you're off to Spyker (who, as of today have canned Albers)! :-)

Also, you have to recall that Ferrari had a catastrophic accident that destroyed the fans in their wind tunnel. They just recently got that all sorted out and have been able only recently to get back to business.

No one outside of Ferrari or McLaren can really say why one team is suddenly faster and the other suddenly slower. I just hope the good name of F1 is not smeared any further by this scandal, and that at least the drivers come out unscathed.

Answer 5

Do you know anything about how long it takes to test and build a F1 car? Do you watch and take in anything that the experts say about the whole Ferrari scandal? Someone has already said that these cars were designed last year. As to the Mclarens being slower the last 2 races, It's all about drivers and engines.

Answer 6

Your first point Ron Dennis is a perfect englsh gentleman and as such would never be subject to industrial espionage.A soon as he was aware of the indiscretions he went public in denial.
2) The McClarens in previous races were never faster than the Ferraris in fact in a straight line the Ferraris were quicker.But everything on the day is down to how the car is set up relative to the circuit they are racing on.That setup concerns tyres,aerodynamics,and final drive settings.It is quite likely that any stolen information or parts concerned software.Todays F1 car is more akin to a fighter plane rather than a car and software plays a critical part in its performance.Enjoy it is getting interesting and Lewis is hungry for the championship stand by.

Answer 7

It does seem suspicious that suddenly the McLarens are dramatically slower than they were, but it could just be put doen to Raikkonen's superior driving skill - he has been around a long time and is very experienced. Maybe the whole Lewis Hamilton thing was beginner's luck and now he's settling into his actual position.

(although I accept that this theory doesn't account for Alonso's performance!)

Answer 8

He knows because a car is an integrated package. Just because another car has some doohickey on it doesn't mean that it will make your car go faster.
As far as I can tell, the way cars are set up can easily influence a car by a couple of seconds. I think this sort of innuendo is wrong because many people are working very hard to get the maximum speed out of their car using the technology they legitimately acquired, not something stolen from someone else.

Answer 9

Mclaren pace were not up to match to ferarri since the incident had alert the FIA... Their car are relatively slower than used to.. Ron Dennis claimed that he did not used or know about anything. But the performance of the cars since to telling us something

Answer 10

my friend they do not have to design the hall car to still the technology any small devise on the computer can change the speed of the car but they can still that what is today every one is smart with others brim ferrari is always ferrari and Italy has the best engineering in the world the only thing ferrari needs 2 good drivers like Michael.