Motorsports Reporter

September 14, 2007The FIA yesterday fined Formula 1 racing team McLaren $100 million and removed all of the manufacturers points it has earned thus far this season. McLaren was leading the manufacturers point race but will not be permitted to earn any points for the entire season.

Early in the investigation, the McLaren race cars were carefully scrutinized and not found to include any of the technology discussed in the document that passed from a Ferrari team member to a McLaren team member. What was interesting about the early part of the investigation was the discovery in the document that Ferrari was experimenting with a movable floor that would allow it to adjust air flow under the car. There were suspicions that Ferrari used the technology in the first race of the year at Australia.  That would have been REALLY illegal!

If nothing changes McLaren’s chances of winning the Manufacturers Championship are gone and the title will likely cede to Ferrari.

According to the BBC this morning, the final number is closer to $250M after loss of prize money etc, etc. A lot of loot even for McLaren and their deep-pocketed sponsors.

The suspicion is that the FIA duo is rewarding their loyal partner Ferrari who stood with them when Dennis and MB McLaren tried to organize the manufacturers to curb Bernie and Max’ excesses.

Remember it was a FERRARI employee who started it all. Doesn’t that team have any culpability? Ferrari always been ready to play any off-track ploy to get their way? Boycotting races, lobbying for rules that hindered competition etc. Is this just another game to win the championship by any means?

• It’s just happenstance that they never built the required number of their most famous car the Ferrari GTO …
• When Cobra cleaned their clock with less sophisticated Ford/AC machines, that they tried to cancel races and quit in a pique …
• When rulings went against them they withdrew from F1, then when FIA didn’t fold, they entered its cars in the final ‘64 races under blue/white ‘NART’ entries so Surtees could win the championship …
• That they withdrew from endurance racing when their P4 proved inferior to Ford GTs and Porsche 908/910/917s …
• Come to think of it, where has Ferrari been in prototype/GT racing lately?

Second, What caused the issue to resurface was some internet communication between Fernando Alonso who has been miffed as he is not getting the adulation and attention he thinks is his due, and his fellow Spaniard test driver.

This raises the following points:
>>     1) why discuss sensitive info on easy to track and recreate email?,
>>     2) highly suspicious that it involves Alonso who has been acting increasingly paranoid, peevish, and who seems anxious to have legal grounds get out of an iron clad contract and jump ship back to Renault, feeling that he has been denied his rightfully superior status by the Brits Dennis and Hamilton,
>>     3) going back before the Elizabethan intrigue that led to the Spanish Armada fiasco, there has been
>>         a) a national mistrust of the Brits by the Spanish,
>>         b) a national conviction by Spaniards that the English have continually bested them via foul means

• Brit pirates preying on Spanish galleons;
• Brit takeover of Spanish Florida, Guinea, Honduras, Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica, etc;
• Trafalgar;
• that Spain needed Wellington to save their butts from Napolean;
• that Franco sided with Hitler;
• Gibraltar is REALLY part of Spain;
• millions of pasty Brits overwhelm the best Spanish coastal cities and Catalan, treating them like indentured servants
• These are ONLY A FEW of the Spanish gripes - The Spanish Inferiority complex is endless!

>>         c) just read any Brit thrillers or spy stories. If there’s a bad guy or devious plotter, they are likely to be Spanish (try Christie, LeCarre, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Follett, O’Brian, Cornwell, etc.)
>>
>>     Now, this all being said, and if Alonso has any role in this, does anyone want to speculate how long it will be  before ANY F1 team again highly risks hiring a Spanish driver?

Finally, Formula One has ALWAYS been a hotbed of folks moving from team to team with secrets and constant outright espionage. Bernie and Max have been team owners, and were among the worst offenders.  * Historically, what I love is that this incident pales in the face of the past:

• Ferrari robbing Lancia and Alfa of secrets;
• Vanwall “Thinwall” Ferrari based cars;
• Matra blatantly copying Cosworth designs;
• Ilien and Morris leaving Cosworth with advanced research to form Ilmor with Mercedes money;
• Many examples of Toyota espionage and corruption … The list goes on and on!>

> Hmmmm!