Formula One Supremo Wants Spying Row Stopped

Topics:  Bernie Ecclestone, McLaren

Anthony Fontanelle
August 1, 2007

Formula One’s Bernie Ecclestone has made his position clear in the spying scandal even before the emergency World Motor Sport Council started. He said that the ‘nonsense’ issue is taking the attention away from the tracks. Following the FIA’s decision not to penalize McLaren for possessing Ferrari documents, and Ferrari’s warning of pressing charges against McLaren, Ecclestone has been reported to have urged the Italian Formula One team to stop the nonsense and do not appeal.

But Ecclestone also pointed out that Ferrari has the right to do what they think is right. “If Ferrari think the wrong decision has been made they have every right to appeal and I think they will,” he said.

It can be remembered that the FIA found McLaren guilty of possessing Ferrari documents which were allegedly passed on to McLaren’s now suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan by former Ferrari senior engineer Nigel Stepney. Stepney though denied that he passed on the classified Ferrari dossier to Coughlan. McLaren, on the other hand, maintains that only Coughlan has knowledge of the documents.

Ferrari’s team principal Jean Todt is obviously furious at this ruling. He said that while McLaren has denied having any knowledge of the Ferrari documents, events earlier this year tells otherwise. “During yesterday's meeting, the McLaren bosses, with no exceptions, admitted that their chief designer had obtained since back in March, prior to the Australian GP, documents from Nigel Stepney,” said Todt.

“Some of this data was used to prepare a clarification request submitted to the FIA, aimed clearly at us.”

What Todt is referring at is the clarification request submitted by McLaren to the FIA after the first race of the season. The request asked for clarification as to the use of ‘flexible floors’. Allegedly, Stepney sent an email to Coughlan detailing the ‘flexible floor’ plan for the Ferrari cars.

“Such information was in fact used to obtain an advantage over us: not through an improvement in their performance, but instead through limiting ours,” said Todt concerning the use of information allegedly supplied by Stepney to Coughlan and McLaren.

In answer to this, McLaren pointed out that Stepney acted as a whistleblower, shedding light to what would have been an illegal advantage on the part of Ferrari. But Todt countered that: “It should be noted that usually, an informant or whistleblower goes to the competent authority to denounce something, whereas in this case he went to Ferrari's main rival.”

The battle between these two teams is heating up not only in the tracks but now, also in the courtrooms. Ferrari announced that they are planning to file charges against Stepney, Coughlan, and McLaren. The team will not be able to appeal to the FIA since the ruling body has already made its decision.

But for McLaren, they are not out of the woods yet. The FIA did not penalize the team but in its decision, the ruling body stated that if enough evidence surfaces showing that McLaren has used the Ferrari data to their advantage, they would be punished accordingly.

The scandal has not only put McLaren’s reputation on the line but it also did put the sport itself riding on it. The British team though maintains that they are innocent of any wrongdoing. This is the second time this season that McLaren has been investigated by the FIA, the first one concerning team orders at the Monaco Grand Prix.

McLaren’s engine partner though is still supporting the team, German automaker Mercedes-Benz which produces automobiles and auto parts such as Mercedes radiators and it also supplies engines to the Formula One team. Mercedes-Benz’ competition chief, Norbert Haug, said: “I'm not worried. We're cleaner than clean.”

Source:  Amazines.com