Posts by Anthony

McLaren fined $100m for spying

Let's get the facts straight

First of all, McLaren would not have to pay the full $100 million. The actual ruling is $100 million minus the amount the team stands to make from it's FOM (Formula One Management) yearly payout, which in this case would be in the $69 million range. So the real amount the team would have to pay is around $31 million. Yes, that's still a lot of money, but for a team that boss Ron Dennis claims "turn over roughly $450-500 million USD a year, and we are debt-free, so obviously we are a very strong company with phenomenal growth" it's really a drop in the bucket. [1]

Second, this isn't a case of some lowly McLaren employee keeping the documents at home as the team would disingenuously have the public believe. The employee in question is Mike Coughlan, chief designer of McLaren's car. According to his own testimony he showed parts of the Ferrari IP to Martin Whitmarsh, COO of McLaren, and Paddy Lowe, McLaren's engineering director. In addition, McLaren's managing director Jonathan Neale was also aware of the Ferrari documents.

[2] Coughlan also had his wife make copies of the documents at a local shop (which is how this while thing was discovered).

As to how McLaren would prove their 2008 cars don't make use of any Ferrari IP, the FIA's technical team will go over the cars -- as they do every year for every single team -- to verify no parts are the same as Ferrari's. No need for a Ferrari engineer to look at McLaren's car plans; we'll leave that to cheating teams like McLaren. ;-)

Also note that even if McLaren didn't copy a single piece of Ferrari technology, they have still gained a very significant advantage over the latter know how large the Ferrari fuel tank is, for example, or how the cars use their tyres, etc. Armed with such knowledge McLaren can (and probably did) alter their own race strategies, didn't fall prey to bluffs (that are common along the F1 pitwall), etc. To claim McLaren gained no unfair advantage over their rivals is absolutely nonsense which is why the WMSC ruled as it did.

[1] See: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/62339

[2] See: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/62303

Let's add the drivers to the list of culpable McLaren employees

From the WMSC's verdict [1]:

"3.4 All three drivers responded. Mr. Hamilton responded that he had no information responsive to the FIA’s request. Mr. Alonso and Mr. de la Rosa both submitted emails to the FIA which the WMSC finds highly relevant. Subsequently (at McLaren’s request) both Mr. Alonso and Mr. de la Rosa made written statements to the WMSC verifying that these e-mails were sent and received and offering context and explanations regarding the e-mails. The e-mails show unequivocally that both Mr. Alonso and Mr. de la Rosa received confidential Ferrari information via Coughlan; that both drivers knew that this information was confidential Ferrari information and that both knew that the information was being received by Coughlan from Stepney."

Interested parties should follow the link below to read the details of these e-mails, which include the drivers discussing Ferrari's weight distribution and flexible wing & aero balance. Armed with such information it's easy to see how the WMSC would find McLaren guilty of gaining an unfair advantage over their rivals.

[1] Full verdict available here: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/09/14/fia-verdict-on-mclaren-full-text/