McLaren 'minutes' from being thrown out of Formula One

By David Tremayne, Motor Racing Correspondent
Published: 15 September 2007

The Ferrari "spying" scandal almost led to Lewis Hamilton's dream of winning the world championship in his debut season coming to nothing.

As the FIA, motor sport's world governing body, yesterday revealed in a 14-page document how Hamilton's team - McLaren - had come to be fined a staggering £49.2m and stripped of all their constructors' points, it appeared that the judgement could have been a lot worse.

Formula One's ringmaster, Bernie Ecclestone, told the BBC that McLaren came " within minutes" of being excluded from this year's title race.

"It came very close to McLaren being thrown out. It really was a genuine possibility," he said. "A few of us sort of battled on and campaigned for the fine instead."

It emerged that the new evidence, which persuaded the FIA to reconvene the World Motor Sport Council meeting of 26 July, rather than hear an appeal against that hearing's findings on behalf of Ferrari, embraced a series of emails and SMS messages. These passed between the disgraced McLaren chief designer, Mike Coughlan, who received information from the former Ferrari head of performance, Nigel Stepney, and the McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa.

How that information came to the notice of the FIA is a moot point. Some suggest that it resulted from a conversation between Alonso and his former employer Flavio Briatore, of Renault, who then informed Ecclestone who in turn informed Max Mosley, the FIA president.

Having effectively subpoenaed the McLaren drivers into revealing their email and SMS communications, the FIA learned that, unequivocally, Alonso and de la Rosa received the confidential Ferrari information via Coughlan; and that both knew its exact nature and that it had been received by Coughlan from Stepney.

Though they could not prove that such information had actually been used to improve McLaren's cars, the WMSC took the view that de la Rosa's evidence made it clear that there was no reluctance or hesitation about testing the Ferrari information. Other facets discussed by the three included a flexible rear wing tried by Ferrari, their braking system, and the gas used to inflate their tyres.

The WMSC did not accept de la Rosa's claim that he did not share the information and its source with other team members.

In his affidavit [submitted in the context of the High Court Proceedings] Coughlan said that there were a number of contacts between him and Stepney and described incidents where confidential Ferrari information was transferred.

New evidence strongly indicated that the transmission of Ferrari information from Stepney to Coughlan was not limited to the 780 page dossier that was already known about, and that a far greater level of communication existed between them than was originally appreciated.

This evidence was submitted by Ferrari and was deemed credible as it originated from Italian police analysis of records of telephone, SMS and e-mail contacts between Coughlan and Stepney.

The evidence suggested that at least 288 SMS messages and 35 telephone calls passed between Coughlan and Stepney between 11 March 2007 and 3 July 2007. The WMSC concluded that the illicit communication of information was very likely not limited to the Ferrari dossier discovered at Coughlan's home on 3 July 2007.

The WMSC also believed that Coughlan may have had a more active role in the design of the McLaren than they had previously appreciated.

They did not have evidence that any complete Ferrari design was copied and subsequently wholly incorporated into the McLaren car as a result of Coughlan passing confidential from Stepney to McLaren, but said: "It is difficult to accept that the secret Ferrari information that was within Coughlan's knowledge never influenced his judgement in the performance of his duties.

"It is not necessary for McLaren to have copied a complete Ferrari design for it to have benefited from Coughlan's knowledge. For example, the Ferrari information cannot but have informed the views Coughlan expressed to others in the McLaren design department, for example regarding which design projects to prioritise or which research to pursue. "

The WMSC also took into account the argument that there was little evidence of the information in question being disseminated to others at McLaren, and that Coughlan was a single rogue employee. However, they stressed that it was not necessary for them to demonstrate that Ferrari information was directly copied by McLaren or put to direct use in the McLaren car. They felt entitled to treat possession of another team's information as an offence meriting a penalty on its own if they so chose.

In light of all the evidence placed before them, the WMSC did not accept that the only actions of McLaren deserving censure were those of Coughlan.

"The evidence leads the WMSC to conclude that some degree of sporting advantage was obtained, though it may forever be impossible to quantify that advantage in concrete terms," they concluded.

"I note that the findings of the World Motor Sport Council show that we have not used Ferrari intellectual property to achieve any competitive advantage for our cars. In addition it's been recognised that McLaren have been open, cooperative and transparent throughout the entire process," Dennis said.

"I want to stress that once I became aware that new evidence might exist, which I did on the morning of the Hungarian Grand Prix [5 August], I immediately phoned the FIA."

In other words, Dennis blew the whistle on his own employees.

"We now have seven days to appeal and are carefully considering the company's position," he added "Our focus is on winning the remaining four races and the Drivers' World Championship."

The telling emails: Hi Mike, do you know the Red Car's weight?

From: Pedro de la Rosa [McLaren test driver]

To: Mike Coughlan [McLaren chief mechanic]

Date: 21 March 2007

Time: 09.57

"Hi Mike, do you know the Red Car's weight distribution? It would be important for us to know so we could try it in the simulator. Thanks in advance, Pedro.

PS: I will be in the simulator tomorrow."

In evidence, De la Rosa confirmed Coughlin replied by text with precise details.

From: Fernando Alonso [McLaren's world champion]

To: Pedro de la Rosa

Date: 25 March 2007

Time: 01.43

"[The Ferrari's] weight distribution surprises me."

From: Pedro de la Rosa

To: Fernando Alonso

Date: 25 March, 2007

Time: 13.02

"All the information from Ferrari is very reliable. It comes from Nigel Stepney, the former chief mechanic. He's very friendly with Mike Coughlan."

From: Pedro de la Rosa

To: Mike Coughlan

Date: 12 April 2007

Time: 12.25

"Can you explain me as much as you can, Ferrari's braking system... are they adjusting from inside the cockpit."

Coughlan replied on 14 April with a technical description of the principles underpinning the Ferrari breaking system

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James Lawton: How can the McLaren drivers be totally innocent while their team is so guilty?

Published: 15 September 2007

It is not often you see a whole and hugely financed sport turn bad before your eyes, when so many levels of doubt and scepticism recede before the irrefutable, and irretrievable, fact that at its highest level it has become rotten to its core.

Is this an extreme view of the crisis of Formula One – and the myth that this nation will have anything of truth and substance to celebrate if its new young hero, Lewis Hamilton, is crowned world champion in the near future?

Only if you did not yesterday trawl through the evidence that Hamilton's McLaren team-mates Pedro de la Rosa, the test driver, and reigning world champion Fernando Alonso traded exultant emails about the reliability of the trade secrets of rivals Ferrai that had come pouring into their possession.

Hamilton's involvement, or lack of it, was untouched by the tide of damning information revealed by the sport's ruling body FIA, evidence that, despite the teary denials of McLaren boss Ron Dennis, made the decision to fine the team £50million – or roughly one 10th of their annual turnover – seem nothing so much as a tap on the wrist.

But then, it could not now become any clearer and one of Hamilton's toughest lessons in his meteoric rise is the one he faces now. It is the concept of guilt by association: de la Rosa's job is to refine the racing strategy that has helped the young Briton to the top of the world drivers' championship table in his first season. It is inconceivable that, for all his talent, Hamilton should now benefit in any way from by this shocking breakdown in basic sporting values.

Indeed, the ultimate scandal is both bizarre and sickening. It is that when the fine was handed down to McLaren here on Thursday, along with the removal of all their points in the Constructors Championship, it was decreed that the drivers should still be free to compete, with all their points intact, for the sport's highest prize.

This, we were told, meant that the the public would not be denied the spectacle of the head-to-head between Hamilton and Alonso. But then as spectacles go, you might think that a front row view of a raid on a poor box might be just be as uplifting. Certainly it is no slight on the exceptional talent of Hamilton to say that if he is rewarded with the greatest prize his sport can offer – one which was denied Stirling Moss in a long and stupendous career – it will not only carry an asterisk but also a flag of distress to separate it from all the others that, by and large, have been won down the years in circumstances that were rather more honourable .

How can any of this possibly be foisted on the public? It is because Formula One believes it has a prime seller in the duel, an instant and likeable hero in the huge British market, and apparently the ruling body do not see, or don't want to see, that they have put together a set of decisons which permit only one interpretation. It is that on top of all the other grotesque imbalances of power and wealth, the world driving championship can be won on the back of cheating as fundamental as that of any drug-ridden athlete.

Dennis said that the great bank of Ferrari data had laid as discarded as a neatly piled mountain of junk mail. We know now that it just wasn't true.

It is disquieting to come from this unavoidable conclusion and see that Sir Jackie Stewart, such a moral backbone of the sport in his campaign to wipe away the suspicion that a reluctance to approve proper safety regulations might have something to do with the commercial appeal of the high risk to their lives under which the stars of the sport routinely operated, can muster not a lot more than bewilderment over the stunning contradictions implicit in this week's judgement.

Into this void has come the most questionable claim of all. It is that in some Solomon-esque way the sport has punished the guilty but preserved a "wonderful" contest.

Shock, though, is once again a matter of degree. When Michael Schumacher drove Jacques Villeneuve off the track at Jerez in 1997 in a failed attempt to deny him the world title some were fanciful enough to believe that he might just pay a significant price. Of course he didn't, He was deducted points in a championship he had already lost and was sent to a session on driving safety. The Schu's eyes narrowed slightly when he heard the verdict and somehow managed not to produce one of his more glacial smiles.

Something else that Formula One doesn't appear to grasp is that in no other area of sport can success for any individual be so heavily determined by the quality of his equipment. The doyen of team bosses, Sir Frank Williams, once compared the agonising over the appointment of a new driver with the blindfolded pinning of the tail on a stage donkey.

No-one is saying that either Hamilton or Alonso are not hugely talented race drivers. But then there are some who believe that young contenders like Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg need only faster cars to make the same kind of impact.

Many years ago the late James Hunt speculated that the march of engineering and aerodynamics would one day reduce the star driver to the role of a glorified "wheel turner". He said that the value of the best driver was down to no more than 50 per cent of a team's package and he could easily see the day when it would be no more than 10 per cent.

It was a view that Williams, beset by the controversy over his decision to drop another British hero, Damon Hill, at the very least did not seem to strenuously oppose.

What the amiable, good-hearted Hunt could not have envisaged was a day when the men who shaped his sport decided they could stand both logic and morality on their heads.

It is, of course, one thing for the former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn to boast of the extra resources his team could bring to the battle if the ruling body made moves to limit the testing advantages of the most powerful teams, if they finally got round to the challenge of trying to level, at least a little, the playing field. It is something else again, though, for the authorities to deliver a record fine, to treat McLaren as though they have betrayed all of their sport, while at the same permitting their drivers to roar on.

Maybe such gross contradictions can be absorbed by the more committed followers who in the past have not always demonstrated a sure hold on values that might just reach beyond the red-hot imperatives of the track.

Ferrari's tifosi, after all, once screamed "chicken" at their erstwhile hero Niki Lauda when he judged conditions too dangerous to pursue a world title challenge. Lauda shook his head as he left the track. A few weeks earlier he had received the last rites from a priest after narrowly avoiding incineration at the Nurburgring.

Now, presumably, the supporters of another camp will cheer madly for the heroes of a team now proved to have grown stronger on the stolen work of their principal rivals. Such a presumption, was surely one motivating force of the judges that came, blinking but unabashed, into the late summer sunshine here this week.

It was as though they they had no sense of the shadow they had created over a sport proposes to resume in Spa, Belgium, this weekend the illusion of normal business. If this is sporting madness, it is not one that has been thus far seized upon with anything like fury.

Indeed, there has been a strong sense that somehow Lewis Hamilton has been rescued from unwarranted threats to extraordinary drive into the sun. Here is the ultimate mistake. Hamilton is not apart from the scandal. Whether he is free of any blame or not, he is at its centre... and may yet be the supreme winner in a race which has lost all moral footing.

You may say that he deserves a lot better than this, but then doesn't anyone who ever chose to believe that Formula One has much anything to to do with something we like to call sport?

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Alonso leads out Hamilton in display of defiance from team

By David Tremayne
Published: 15 September 2007

After Ferrari headed the practice times for the Belgium Grand Prix yesterday morning, the beleaguered McLaren team turned the tables in the afternoon to set the quickest times of the day. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were separated by only 0.111sec, as Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen gave chase.

Alonso lapped in 1min 46.654sec, a time Hamilton seemed set to beat until he go his car slightly sideways as he put the power down on the exit to the first part of the final corner. It was a minor error, but sufficient to snatch away a tenth or two of a second from his time. He had to be satisfied with 1min 46.765sec.

"A good start to the weekend, with all our set-up work completed and with some positive results," Alonso said. "The car feels good to drive round here, but as always there is still room for improvement. We have a good idea of where we are and where we can improve, so it should be a close fight all weekend."

Hamilton was equally upbeat. "Today we completed all our work without any problems. I love this circuit, so really enjoyed driving round here and just seeing what the MP4-22 could do.

"The balance of the car on this technical circuit is good, but I struggled to get a clear lap all session until the very end. That being said I could really feel a definite improvement in our overall performance since we tested here back in July."

Massa, who went off the road on cold tyres after only two laps in the morning session, posted 1min 46.953sec, Raikkonen, who had been fastest then, 1min 47.166sec.

"Despite losing time this morning, in the end we can call this is good day," the Brazilian said. "We did some useful work on set-up and on the balance of the car and on a comparison of the two types of tyre available to us. From what we could see, we are working in the right direction. Now, we have to analyse the data very carefully to be as well prepared as possible for tomorrow's qualifying and for Sunday's race."

Raikkonen was slightly less upbeat. "Satisfied with the way things went this morning," he reported, "but a bit less happy about the afternoon would sum up my day. This morning the car balance was very good, while we struggled a bit in the second session to find the right settings. We need to get the package we have to work better."

Spa-Francorchamps is everybody's favourite track, but it is a gruelling test of drivers and cars with its 320kmh straights, the 70 kmh La Source hairpin, and myriad sixth-gear sweeps. The highlight is, of course, the famed 300 kmh Eau Rouge, which still rewards commitment even if most said after the test here in July that it is an "easy flat" in the new breed of V8 cars.

Practice times from Spa

First session: 1 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1min 47.339sec; 2 L Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:47.881; 3 F Alonso (Sp) McLaren 1:47.994; 4 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:48.052; 5 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:48.372; 6 R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:48.605; 7 A Wurz (Aut) Williams-Toyota 1:48.920; 8 J Trulli (It) Toyota 1:48.994; 9 H Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:49.138; 10 J Button (GB) Honda 1:49.330; 11 G Fisichella (It) Renault 1:49.380; 12 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:49.548; 13 M Webber (Aus) RedBull-Renault 1:49.894; 14 D Coulthard (GB) RedBull-Renault 1:49.931; 15 R Barrichello (Bra) Honda 1:50.264; 16 S Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:50.482; 17 T Sato (Japan) Super Aguri-Honda 1:50.640; 18 A Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 1:50.648; 19 A Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari 1:50.768; 20 V Liuzzi (It) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:51.628; 21 S Yamamoto (Japan) Spyker-Ferrari 1:52.379; 22 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari.

Second session: 1 Alonso 1min 46.654sec; 2 Hamilton 1:46.765; 3 Massa 1:46.953; 4 Raikkonen 1:47.166; 5 Trulli 1:47.491; 6 Schumacher 1:47.946; 7 Fisichella 1:48.086; 8 Webber 1:48.271; 9 Kubicka 1:48.279; 10 Kovalainen 1:48.567; 11 Heidfeld 1:48.606; 12 Rosberg 1:48.840; 13 Coulthard 1:48.883; 14 Button 1:48.919; 15 Barrichello 1:49.364; 16 Wurz 1:49.393; 17 Yamamoto 1:49.697; 18 Vettel 1:49.720; 19 Sato 1:50.168; 20 Sutil 1:50.399; 21 Davidson 1:50.542; 22 Liuzzi 1:50.865.

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Motorcycling: Rossi roars back to threaten Stoner's early celebrations

By Gary James
Published: 15 September 2007

Valentino Rossi yesterday gave a warning in practice for the Portuguese round at Estoril that he may yet delay Casey Stoner's ambitions to wrap up the MotoGP world championship.

Plagued by a lack of power and inconsistent grip from his Michelin tyres for much of the season, Rossi nevertheless blazed his Fiat Yamaha into third place in practice, only 0.170sec slower than Stoner, on his Marlboro Ducati.

Stoner produced his usual unflappable form to lap fastest in 1min 37.950 sec, benefiting from the flawless grip that Bridgestone has been able to provide all season. The 21-year-old Australian, in only his first year on a factory bike, has already won eight of 13 races and leads Rossi by 85 points in the championship table.

Stoner and Ducati will claim their first world championship if they win tomorrow's 28-lap race and Rossi finishes sixth or lower. But Rossi – who has won three races when he has had competitive rubber and a good setup – now looks likely to postpone the victory celebrations until at least the following round in Japan.

"I used a new engine and new tyres," he said. 2I was only four or five kph slower, which is not much at the end of a long straight like this.

"But the biggest improvement came from the tyres. I have more feeling from the front and a higher entry speed to the corners, and I also like the rear a lot. But we may have some difficulty in doing 28 laps at the maximum."

Stoner said: "The bike was bucking and weaving, and tomorrow we will try and go in a different direction. But I feel a lot more confident than I did here last year."

Makoto Tamada, of Japan, gave Dunlop a welcome boost finishing second fastest on his Tech 3 Yamaha.

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McLaren punished heavily but Hamilton keeps his title points

By David Tremayne
Published: 14 September 2007

McLaren have been fined an unprecedented $100m (£49.2m) and stripped of all their points in the 2007 World Championship for constructors, following yesterday's meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris.

They will not be eligible to score any further points this season, but the team's drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, currently first and second in a thrilling race for the drivers' title, retain their points and can continue their battle for the individual crown.

"The evidence given to the FIA by our drivers, engineers and staff clearly demonstrated that we did not use any leaked information to gain a competitive advantage," said McLaren team principal Ron Dennis. " The entire engineering team in excess of 140 people provided statements to the FIA affirming they had never received or used the Ferrari information.

"We have never denied that the information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of our employees at his home.

"The issue is: was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today. I do not accept that we deserve to be penalised or have our reputation damaged in this way."

Dennis also issued a defiant comment to the team's detractors: "Right now, we've got the best drivers and the best car, and we intend to win the world championship."

In practice, McLaren will have to pay around $60m (£29.5m) in financial penalties, and their 2008 car will also be "closely inspected" by the FIA's technical delegates before next season.

The WMSC will receive a full technical report on the 2008 McLaren car and will take a decision at its December 2007 meeting as to what sanction, if any, will be imposed on the team for the 2008 season," a statement threatened.

The fine is unprecedented in FIA history, with the previous record just $5m (£2.5m), which was handed out to organisers of the Turkish Grand Prix following an untoward podium ceremony last year.

Half of the monies will come from McLaren's prize money won to date this year, which is considerable given the success of the team and the drivers.

Dennis explained: "We will have as an offset the revenue from the points earned to date that will effectively halve the size of the cheque we have to sign – if we ultimately accept this fine.

"We turn over roughly $450-500m per year, and we are debt free, so we are obviously a very strong company, with phenomenal growth."

When the WMSC first met in Paris on 26 July to investigate allegations that McLaren had used confidential intellectual property belonging to Ferrari on their cars, it said: "The World Motor Sport Council are satisfied McLaren-Mercedes were in possession of confidential Ferrari information and are therefore in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code. However, there is insufficient evidence that this information was used in such a way as to interfere improperly with the FIA Formula One World Championship. We therefore impose no penalty.

"But if it is found in the future that the Ferrari information has been used to the detriment of the championship, we reserve the right to invite McLaren Mercedes back."

New evidence was duly presented recently in the form of email communications between the disgraced McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan, who has admitted to being in possession of the stolen Ferrari documentation, and the McLaren drivers Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa, which suggested that Coughlan had, after all, made use of Ferrari's data.

Yesterday's decision was made following lengthy deliberations by the 23-man council. It questioned Dennis; the group managing director, Martin Whitmarsh; the McLaren Racing managing director Jonathan Neale; technical director Paddy Lowe and De la Rosa.

Hamilton travelled to Paris, but was not required to answer questions. A McLaren source said the Briton had asked to attend the hearing for his own personal reasons. Alonso did not attend.

The council also heard testimony from the former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, who made a surprise appearance on behalf of the Scuderia.

Further controversy arose yesterday with allegations that Renault have been running with McLaren intellectual property on their car this season, following the departure from McLaren to Renault of design engineer Phil Mackereth, who allegedly took with him three disks of detailed information about McLaren technology.

Asked whether justice had been done, the FIA president Max Mosley said: " Yes." McLaren disagree and have indicated their intention to appeal against yesterday's decisions.

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