This Ferrari spy scandal is not going to go away,like the fia and Bernie hope it would?

Question

That's not all: McLaren during the hearing admitted to have received secret material, and that the knowledge of this operation of espionage arrived at the top level, even to Ron Dennis, and there hasn't been any penalization. It's shameful

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."

This is going to get nasty now very nasty,
looks like the fia and mclaren are about to take on ferrari,fiat and italy.

Views?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/61172

Answer 1

I don't believe the issue is how much Ferrari was able to prove but what proof was required by the governing body making the judgment. There was absolute proof that McLaren employee(s) had possession of stolen Ferrari technical documents. McLaren claimed to not have USED the documents and that was the standard used for guilt. The problem is that without McLaren releasing all of their technical information and an outside party completely dissembling their cars and reviewing every part of the car there is no way to prove whether they used Ferrari's information or not. How was Ferrari supposed to prove they did use the documents? It was simply McLaren stating they didn't, which doesn't add up to any proof at all. If you are caught with a stolen car and you tell the police you didn't drive the car are they going to let you off the hook? It is to bad this happened and sanctions against McLaren would be bad for the McLaren drivers and put a black mark on the season but it seems to me the only fair thing to do, they need to have better control over there employees and a company should be held responsible for the acts of there employees.

Answer 2

The FIA only have themselves to blame. If things were reversed Ferrari would definately have been penalised.

Of course it was pretty obvious it was going to turn out like this. No-one wants to see Hamiltons season suffer over this. He has brought in more viewers which equals more cash for the F***ing Idiotic Amateurs. Bernie even said a few weeks ago that there was no way Hamilton's points would be affected. Not the McLaren drivers, Hamilton!

I hope Ferrari fight this decision all the way. It is an extremely bad precedent for the sport if it goes unchallenged. However I won't be surprised if nothing gets done about it. The days of honour and integrity in F1 are long gone.

Answer 3

As far as I know, neither the minutes of the meeting nor a transcript, nor a recording of the meeting have become available. So we don't know exactly what was said. Did Ron Dennis say, "I knew Coughlan had top secret Ferrari information and I approved of it to assist in design" or did he say, "I was ignorant of the fact that a McLaren employee had two discs of information relating to the F2007 in his possession"? Both cases can be reported as "McLaren ... admitted to have received secret material", but the first is quite different from the second. In the second McLaren is guilty of being the employer of a person who has computer discs with Ferrari information on it.
We still haven't been told how Coughlan came into possession of the information, nor why Ferrari believe the source was Stepney (who still claims he wasn't the source).

Answer 4

There are two significant failings on the FIA's behalf...

(1) The World Motor Sport Council stated that McLaren were found to be in breach of article 151c of the International Sporting Code, but chose not to penalise them. This rightly undermines the rules of the sport.

(2) The press release stated that if it is later discovered that Ferrari information was used to McLaren's advantage, McLaren would be brought back in front of the WMSC to face exclusion from the 2007 and 2008 World Championships. Surely this gives Ferrari an invitation to continue trying to dig up evidence with which to incriminate McLaren?

The scandal was an unfortunate incident which would be history now if the FIA had acted correctly by penalising the McLaren team. But thanks to their own actions (or lack of), this situation will more thank likely end up in the high court.

Answer 5

i understand why Ferrari are extremely annoyed (for want of a better word) at the outcome. there will be countless reports flying around for the next week or so, but at the end of the day no one knows exactly what was said except the people who were there. the press will cut what people say for their own gain. it will certainly be the talk of F1 teams, officials and fans around the world. i for one think there is a lot more involved than just what we are hearing about. i still maintain my suspicions about Fry and Honda.

i agree 100% that this is not going to blow over quickly and quietly like Bernie wanted. I'm sure if they pressure the 2 individuals who started all of this then more will come out. i really don't think they would want to be scapegoats, they would want to take people with them if they were to go down. perhaps a truth drug administered to all involved (and Honda) would help to get to the bottom of it. I just hope someone can do some damage limitation so that fans do not leave in disgust

Answer 6

So if ferrari done that they would have been penalized !!! Thats not fair i think that they will get revenge during the grand prix's. To show Mclaren don't mess with us. I think that FIA didn't take it futher because of lewis hamilton. Thats what i think because its a first english driver to get this high and is leading the championships in his rookie year. But i do think its unfair but if mclaren use the information from that documents then they WILL be penalized. But i did have a feeling that they did use the INFORMATION because during the sliverstone grand prix lewis' car wasn't working that good and lewis kept on radioing his team saying this. Thast why he didn't win. I had a feeling they could have used the documents. But its just a feeling. So I think things will get worse.

Answer 7

things should go nasty ...the veridict is a joke ! Ferrari should fight for their right .What Mclaren did is illegal and they should pay for it . i don't care if the juges are saying they didn't use it cos :
1- it's bad enough they stole it
2- the rules doesn't duggest that stealing information from another team is leagal if they weren't use (the regulations are very clear)
3-who they think they are dealing with ? i don't buy this " there is no prove they were used " rubish ... of course they used it it doesn't take a genius to figure it out

Answer 8

Ferrari should be upset. The data that they had stolen from them was supposed to include future designs. It is shameful for a team to preach its integrity despite blatantly violating the sporting regulations. Allegedly even Ron Dennis knew about it so the argument that it was only one man is BS.

Having another team's secret documents is an offense under F1 rules. It just isn't punished so there's no point in it being illegal.

I have heard that some Ferrari fans want them to abandon the season if it is clear that they cannot win the titles. I think that might make F1 rethink its alleged bias. It would send a strong message to F1 that it can't push the most important team around.

Answer 9

The verdict was interesting. Something like a man caught for adultery. You are proven guilty of adultery, but since the lady is not pregnant, you are free to go. Just make sure that she doesnt get pregnant this year.

Sorry for the crude analogy, but thats the ruling here. FIA just legalized espionage.

In sports, doping is a crime, whether you win or not due to it. The same needed to be applied here.

Answer 10

McLaren saying they had the documents but didn't gain a competitive advantage from that information is like Bill Clinton saying he tried marijuana but did NOT inhale. This whole mess is not done by a long shot.