The Ferrari investigation (McLaren issues apology)

[Ed]

And Ferrari accepted McLaren's apology and guarantees and issued the following statement:

Ferrari notes the apology offered today by the McLaren Group, following the investigations carried out by the FIA Technical Department, as presented to the WSMC on 7th December last.

The written and verbal statements issued by senior McLaren personnel both at the World Council meetings of the 26th July and 13th September and through the media have thus been publicly proved wrong. Therefore it is admitted that confidential information which was the property of Ferrari was disseminated within the structure of the English team and this also confirms the seriousness of the behaviour of those involved over the past few months.

In the light of McLaren’s apology and the guarantees it has presented, Ferrari respects the proposal of the FIA President to cancel the extraordinary general meeting of the WSMC scheduled for 14th February coming, thus bringing this incident to a close from a sporting point of view. However, it is confirmed that criminal actions underway in Italy and civil ones in England are still continuing.

Maranello, 13th December 2007

[JayVee]

Hi all,

Back in September I said this

It was very interesting reading the findings.

I am trying to get my head around this but just reading the findings makes me think that many people at McLaren knew about this and I suspect that this was their best option to minimise their losses.

de la Rosa knows Coughlan, de la Rosa and Alonso are Spanish, pass a message to the FIA and request driver immunity and try to contain it to those three.

Why wasn't de la Rosa suspended ? Perhaps even Alonso ? Because it wasn't just them.

Now having said that, in any competitive business you would always want to know your competitors secrets and exchange of information on an informal level happens all the time and it always remains hush hush.
I am sure this is happening in F1 and perhaps McLaren have just been severly punished and will be an example.

In my opinion, I would have preferred a total exclusion. Now that Ferrari are the Constructors Champions!!!! the team can get Massa to hold up the McLaren's, perhaps even be too aggressive and crash them so Raikkonen wins so playing with the penalty to protect the show will have its own consequences

And finally McLaren have admitted more knew about it.

I just hope this ends all the 'way over the top' blaming of Alonso as being the architect of all this. It is now clear that McLaren hoped to limit the damage and blame him and de la Rosa and hope the lie would stick. Well now by their own admission they knew and tried to hide it.

Ron Dennis should go. His so called integrity and honesty is tarnished forever. I am also now glad that neither Alonso nor Hamilton won the championship as it would have not been deserved.

And I am very happy that Alonso is back at Renault

Merry Christmas everyone

[jido]

Shame on you, McLaren, for getting involved in all this. Hope you now know where your best interests are.

I liked the part about sponsors in the "moratory" letter. That should make other teams think again when presented with confidential information coming from elsewhere. Burned once, twice shy.

[Ed]

The investigation into the Stepney-Coughlan spy affair continues with the Italian investigators visiting homes of a number of McLaren executives as well as the McLaren Technology Centre.

McLaren offered full co-operation (according to their press statement) but issued an angry statement following reports about a report from the Italian Police.

The initial statement from McLaren read:

27 February: McLaren Racing has today continued its co-operation with enquiries instigated by the Modena Magistrate.

The Surrey Police accompanied Italian investigators to the homes of a number of McLaren executives as part of their ongoing investigation. A similar process has been performed at the McLaren Technology Centre.

The police are completely satisfied with the co-operation they have received.

These actions are part of a normal judicial process in connection with the ongoing investigation, and are supported by McLaren Racing.

-----------

The following statement read:

29 February: McLaren Racing wishes to record its extreme displeasure with the wording of a statement that the Italian Police are reported to have made yesterday. If those reports accurately reflect the police statement, the statement is grossly inaccurate and misleading.

The reports incorrectly claim that the searches produced material which clearly shows the responsibility of certain people at McLaren Racing. In fact, the Italian police have not yet even been given access to any of the material taken, nor have they even started to review that material. We would be extremely surprised if the review of the documentation reveals anything which has not already been disclosed as a result of the extensive investigations already carried out.

McLaren Racing believes that due process needs to be respected and that the conduct of an investigation process should not be construed adversely or used for publicity purposes. It should be noted that none of the extensive searches or investigations completed to date have produced any evidence that the Ferrari documents which Mr Nigel Stepney handed over to Mr Michael Coughlan were ever passed to anyone else at McLaren Racing or used on the McLaren Formula 1 car.

McLaren Racing will continue to co-operate with Surrey Police regarding any further searches and enquiries they are required to undertake. McLaren Racing wishes to thank Surrey Police for the helpful and courteous manner in which they have undertaken the process.

More can be found at our news section here

[JayVee]

I say it again, Ron Dennis should go

And isn't it that editor at F1 Racing joined McLaren ? I think so, well it doesn't look like he is handling the media relations any better

[jido]

I am confused about the latest from Stepney... What does he mean he never saw the dossier?

[F1greyhound]

just over a year later.....

Whats wrong at MCLAREN?

[RE30B#16]

just over a year later.....

Whats wrong at MCLAREN?

What's wrong with McLaren AND Ferrari???!?


To echo someone else on this thread, I am also happy Fernando Alonso is back at Renault. He will win at least 4 races this year including Monaco! That's right, I said it!!!