The Fast Cars
Sep. 15th, 2007 12:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pauln1964The FIA verdict does look fairly damning, but I still think the punishment meted out to McLaren is out of proportion.
There was undoubtedly Ferrari information passed around between some members of the team, not just held by Mike Coughlan. The two most notable of course are the test driver, Pedro de la Rosa and the world champion himself, Fernando Alonso. I'd be surprised if the pair of them are still at the team next year. There were probably a few more. It's equally obvious that this was restricted to those people and that the management of the team did not know about it.
I certainly don't believe that Ron Dennis knew anything stuff until the dates on which he himself notified the FIA that there was something to look at. If he's guilty of anything it's of not knowing exactly what all of his team personnel were up to. In any organisation that size that would be an impossible job. He's one of the few people to come out of all this with his reputation enhanced as far as I'm concerned.
There's no evidence that any of the Ferrari information has actually been used to enhance the performance of the McLaren car. My view is that because of this, exclusion from the championship is as inexcusable as the actions of Stepney, Coughlan, de la Rosa and Alonso. A fine, certainly and a largeish one is definitely deserved. Whether one of the magnitude of $100m is fair I would question.
There is another element to the information, which is the passing to McLaren of information about the pit-stop strategy of Ferrari at two races. If that's true, then deduct the points for those two races - both constructors and drivers.
Max Mosley has today as good as called Ron Dennis a liar. It's perfectly possible, Mr Mosley, for somebody to answer a question truthfully to the best of their knowledge and then find out further information. I didn't think my opinion of Mosley could sink any lower - it just has.
There was undoubtedly Ferrari information passed around between some members of the team, not just held by Mike Coughlan. The two most notable of course are the test driver, Pedro de la Rosa and the world champion himself, Fernando Alonso. I'd be surprised if the pair of them are still at the team next year. There were probably a few more. It's equally obvious that this was restricted to those people and that the management of the team did not know about it.
I certainly don't believe that Ron Dennis knew anything stuff until the dates on which he himself notified the FIA that there was something to look at. If he's guilty of anything it's of not knowing exactly what all of his team personnel were up to. In any organisation that size that would be an impossible job. He's one of the few people to come out of all this with his reputation enhanced as far as I'm concerned.
There's no evidence that any of the Ferrari information has actually been used to enhance the performance of the McLaren car. My view is that because of this, exclusion from the championship is as inexcusable as the actions of Stepney, Coughlan, de la Rosa and Alonso. A fine, certainly and a largeish one is definitely deserved. Whether one of the magnitude of $100m is fair I would question.
There is another element to the information, which is the passing to McLaren of information about the pit-stop strategy of Ferrari at two races. If that's true, then deduct the points for those two races - both constructors and drivers.
Max Mosley has today as good as called Ron Dennis a liar. It's perfectly possible, Mr Mosley, for somebody to answer a question truthfully to the best of their knowledge and then find out further information. I didn't think my opinion of Mosley could sink any lower - it just has.
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Date: 2007-09-15 02:12 pm (UTC)Alonso does not come out of it well - and that fact it was at least clear he knew it was incriminating makes the first inquiry a farce.