Belgium 2007

THE F1 'SPYGATE' STORY AGAIN TOOK CENTRE STAGE IN SPA FOLLOWING THE WORLD MOTOR SPORT COUNCIL (WMSC) MEETING IN PARIS ON 13 SEPTEMBER. BRIEFLY, IT TRANSPIRED THAT NIGEL STEPNEY (EX-FERRARI CHIEF MECHANIC) HAD BEEN LEAKING FERRARI INFORMATION, PARTICULARLY ON HOW TO USE THE BRIDGESTONE TYRES BEING USED FOR THE FIRST TIME AT MCLAREN, TO HIS FRIEND, THE SUSPENDED CHIEF MCLAREN DESIGNER, BEFORE THE 2007 SEASON EVEN STARTED AND THUS WELL BEFORE HE PASSED THE WHOLE FERRARI TECHNICAL 'DOSSIER' OVER TO COUGHLAN. COUGHLAN ALLOWED FERNANDO ALONSO AND PEDRO DE LA ROSA TO USE THE TYRE INFORMATION IN TEST SESSIONS ON THE TRACK AND IN THE SIMULATOR WITH THE INFORMATION BEING DISSEMINATED VIA E-MAILS, TEXT MESSAGES AND 'PHONE CALLS.

AT THE TIME OF THE PREVIOUS WMSC HEARING, RON DENNIS HAD ASSURED THE COUNCIL THAT THERE WAS NO SUCH INFORMATION IN USE AT MCLAREN, OTHER THAN THE DOSSIER HELD BY COUGHLAN AND WHICH HAD NOT BEEN AVAILABLE WHEN THE 2007 CAR HAD BEEN DESIGNED. VERY UNFORTUNATELY FOR DENNIS, A MAN OF EXTREMELY HIGH INTEGRITY, HIS ASSURANCE WAS BASED ON WHAT HE KNEW AT THAT TIME. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS HAVE PROVED THAT, AS WITH ANY ORGANIZATION, THE HEAD CANNOT KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE ORGANIZATION.
IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE ROW AT THE HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX BETWEEN DENNIS AND ALONSO, DENNIS BECAME AWARE THAT E-MAILS MAY EXIST THAT WOULD CONTRADICT HIS ASSERTIONS TO THE WMSC. HE IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONED MAX MOSLEY, HEAD OF THE F.I.A., TO INFORM HIM OF THIS DEVELOPMENT. WHEN MOSLEY SUBSEQUENTLY RECEIVED EVIDENCE FROM THE ITALIAN POLICE, WHO WERE INVESTIGATING THE FERRARI CLAIMS OF LEAKED TECHNICAL INFORMATION, THAT THERE WERE IN EXCESS OF 300 TEXT MESSAGES AND 'PHONE CALLS BETWEEN COUGHLAN AND STEPNEY, HE IMMEDIATELY WROTE TO THE THREE MCLAREN DRIVERS OFFERING IMMUNITY TO ANY PUNISHMENT IF THEY WERE TO REVEAL THE EVIDENCE THAT THEY HAD IN THE FORM OF THEIR PERSONAL E-MAILS. HOWEVER, IT WOULD APPEAR THAT LEWIS HAMILTON HAS NOT BEEN INVOLVED IN ANY WAY.

AT THE 13 SEPTEMBER WMSC HEARING, IT WAS CLEAR THAT THE FERRARI CLAIMS HAD BEEN CORRECT AND MCLAREN WERE PUNISHED TO THE TUNE OF $100M DOLLARS (£50M), TO INCLUDE THEIR SHARE OF PRIZE AND TELEVISION MONEY, AND WOULD NOT BE AWARDED ANY CONSTRUCTORS' POINTS IN 2007, EFFECTIVELY AWARDING THE 2007 CONSTRUCTORS' TITLE TO FERRARI (NOW A FACT AFTER SPA). IN ADDITION, THEIR 2008 CAR HAS TO BE INDEPENDENTLY SCRUTINISED TO ENSURE THAT NO PART OF IT IS BASED ON FERRARI 'SECRETS'. THE DRIVERS' TITLE RACE IS STILL ONGOING BECAUSE THE MCLAREN DRIVERS RETAIN THEIR POINTS.

WHILST IT IS MCLAREN THAT HAS RECEIVED THE ACTUAL PUNISHMENT, IT SEEMS ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT BOTH FERRARI AND MCLAREN HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY LET DOWN BY THE TWO APPARENTLY DISAFFECTED EMPLOYEES, STEPNEY AND COUGHLAN, WHO WILL NO DOUBT EVENTUALLY RECEIVE THEIR OWN PUNISHMENTS - FERRARI ARE PURSUING STEPNEY THROUGH THE COURTS AND, PRESUMABLY, COUGHLAN WILL SOON BE UNEMPLOYED. THAT THESE TWO INDIVIDUALS COULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PRESENT DAMAGE TO THE REPUTATION OF MCLAREN AND, PARTICULARLY, RON DENNIS AS A TEAM AND DIRECTOR OF THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE STANDARDS AND, PERHAPS ULTIMATELY, FOR THE EVENTUAL DOWNFALL OF ONE OF THE GREATEST TEAMS IN F1 HISTORY MAKES THIS EPISODE ONE OF THE BLACKEST DAYS EVER FOR FORMULA ONE.

THE RACING PROVED TO BE VERY MUCH AN ANTI-CLIMAX WITH BOTH FERRARIS FILLING THE FRONT ROW OF THE GRID AND THE TWO MCLARENS ON ROW TWO. AT THE START, THE FERRARIS GOT AWAY WELL WHILST THE TWO MCLARENS ALMOST COLLIDED AT THE LA SOURCE HAIRPIN (TURN 1) AND THEN WERE SIDE BY SIDE AS THEY APPROACHED EAU ROUGE UP THE HILL AT 185 MPH FOR THE FIRST TIME. FERNANDO HAD THE BETTER LINE AND SO THE FIRST FOUR POSITIONS ON TRACK WERE UNCHANGED FROM THE GRID AND SO IT CONTINUED UNTIL THE END OF THE RACE WITH KIMI RAIKKONEN TAKING THE WIN, FELIPE MASSA IN SECOND PLACE, FERNANDO ALONSO IN THIRD AND LEWIS HAMILTON FOURTH, NOW WITH ONLY A 2-POINT LEAD IN THE DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP AS F1 HEADS FOR THE LAST 3 RACES OF THE SEASON - JAPAN, CHINA AND BRAZIL.

Race Results posted by
David Little
17 September 2007

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