$100 Million fine for cheating

**cj001f** · 09-13-2007, 09:08 PM

And a ban from the Constructor's Championship for McLaren.

Damn that hurts

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/moto...ne/6991147.stm

**schindlerpiste** · 09-13-2007, 09:09 PM

DOes this mean that Ferrari, and it's drivers, leap into 1st place?

**f2f** · 09-13-2007, 09:16 PM

yeah, saw that today, including the fake release that mclaren are kicked of for this season and next.

ferrari wins constructor, but mclaren's drivers will keep their points and no point changes will be made for any past races of the season. no mclaren official can go to the podium if one of their drivers wins.

interesting commentary in today's autosport: when toyota people were found stealing ferrari's secrets the FIA didn't get involved, yet now they are... somebody (with initials MM

) does not like ron dennis.

oh, yeah, makes that NFL $250,000 penalty look like a slap on the wrist, doesn't it?

edit: reading Mike Caughlan's version (available here) i'm amazed at the detail and level of engineering of the F1 cars that it gives a glimpse of:

Coughlan stated he was emailed by Stepney in March 2007 on three occasions, "on the basis that he wished to communicate concerns that certain features of Ferrari's car did not comply with the technical regulations.

These included Ferrari's floor device, a rear wing flap separator, and a technique to lower the floor of the car.

**cj001f** · 09-13-2007, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by f2f

interesting commentary in today's autosport: when toyota people were found stealing ferrari's secrets the FIA didn't get involved, yet now they are... somebody (with initials MM

) does not like ron dennis.

oh, yeah, makes that NFL $250,000 penalty look like a slap on the wrist, doesn't it?

yeah, they've clearly made some big enemies, maybe payback for the alternate F1 idea? I'm sure you saw Jackie Stewart's comments:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/moto...ne/6988645.stm

Even with that $100 million coming out of potential winnings it's still stupidly huge. Makes Nascar look podunk yet again

**f2f** · 09-13-2007, 09:25 PM

Originally Posted by cj001f

I'm sure you saw Jackie Stewart's comments:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/moto...ne/6988645.stm

no, i hadn't: been following autosport all day. thanks for the link!

**slim** · 09-13-2007, 09:30 PM

It's crazy to realize that there is that much money in F1 that one of the participants can get hit with a $100mil fine. Redonkulous.

**f2f** · 09-13-2007, 10:43 PM

it's either quite the outcry, or every newspaper is scrambling to find its own independent source.

stirling moss: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle2448895.ece

paul stoddart: "What does FIA stand for? It stands for Ferrari International Assistance".

**brettf** · 09-13-2007, 10:51 PM

just heard that on NPR. Crazy. apparently the drivers don't lose any points though and it is all good for them... weird application of penalties IMO...

**sftc** · 09-13-2007, 11:24 PM

If you read into it much of the $$ value of the fine is projected on the loss of potential future earnings from advertising and sponsorship, kind of like how Beckham signed a contract for $250 mil to play soccer in LA

Whatever, today's headline has made more people pay attention to F1 then at any time in the last few years so it's break even $$ on the free press exposure for everyone involved.
Fuck, more then 1/2 of the NASCAR fans are saying "WTF is F1?"

**Roo** · 09-14-2007, 06:55 AM

Weird how if a cyclist or an athlete is given drugs by his coach and gains an advantage it is no defence to plead ignorance, but in F1 it suddenly is.

Truth is, Max Mosley and Ron Dennis detest each other and Mosley saw this as a way to try to retire Ron. The FIA didn't want to spoil its party piece so let the drivers keep their points on the basis that by cooperating with the investigation they were, in effect, rendered immune from penalty.

This fine still represents less than 20% of McLaren's turnover so they're not about to go to the wall. What's interesting is that the FIA has demanded inspection of the 2008 car and scheduled a December hearing. Sounds like there may be Ferrari intellectual property on that design already.

Rumours from Spa are already flying around suggesting that Alonso will jump ship to Renault, replacing Fisi, and that Button will be poached by McLaren for an all-Brit driver line up. Silly season is in full swing.

**f2f** · 09-14-2007, 10:00 AM

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/62346

(abridged)

FIA reveals evidence that led to penalty

As was expected, the evidence revolves around an email exchange between McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa and world champion Fernando Alonso, plus logs of calls and SMS messages between Coughlan and Stepney.

In the emails, extracts of which have been published, de la Rosa talks about information coming from Stepney.

On March 21 de la Rosa wrote an email to Coughlan stating: "Hi Mike, do you know the Red Car's Weight Distribution? It would be important for us to know so that we could try it in the simulator. Thanks in advance, Pedro.

"P.S. I will be in the simulator tomorrow."

Coughlan replied to that email with a text message with the details that were required, although in the end those settings were not tried out.

On March 25 de la Rosa then sent an email to Alonso setting out Ferrari's weight distribution to two decimal places on each of Ferrari's cars for the Australian Grand Prix.

Alonso then replied under a section headed Ferrari: "Its weight distribution surprises me; I don't know either if it's 100 percent reliable, but at least it draws attention."

De la Rosa then replied: "All the information from Ferrari is very reliable. It comes from Nigel Stepney, their former chief mechanic - I don't know what post he holds now. He's the same person who told us in Australia that Kimi was stopping in lap 18. He's very friendly with Mike Coughlan, our Chief Designer, and he told him that."