No real surprise when the French & Italians get together. BS planted by Ferrari because they got butt hurt this season.


Fred will be WDC this year !

 

Have you seen Coughlan's statement? I find it very believable. When the first info was passed to them (the floor thing), they used it by filing the complaint. Then they thought about it a bit and decided it was a mistake to have used it, but too late. Then when the full documentation was passed to him he didn't know what to do, and basically sat on it hoping it would all go away.

He admits he did wrong, even though he didn't set out to do wrong.

 

So what would happen if McLaren said "Screw you!" to the FIA and pulled out of F1 racing altogether? With $100M on the line, I might be considering that if I were them.

 

Also, where does the fine go, exactly? Does Bernie put it in his pocket, or is it put in a retirement fund for drivers, or what?

 

Ahhh, no....
Planted by Ferrari, that's like the extreme of being blind to the facts.
Believe what you want... this goes way back to before the season even started, as in no teams had any points yet.

 

I'm not so sure 100 mil is that much, they can't just pull out, too much invested at this point, plus, I suspect they are mad as hell at being penalized, the last thing they want to do is give up. As I said before, I bet the team just goes under a new name and they are right back in the game next year.

 

Great question, I'm sure they have to show that it goes into the FIA account, but then it could go anywhere, including legit places like team shipping bonuses at the end of the year.

 

I wonder what is to become of Nigel Stepney in all of this?

Obviously his career is done but will he do time in Italy for industrial espionage or that reported sabotage with white powder in the gas tank thing?

 

Then how could FA have provided evidence if he has none?

Reigning world champion Fernando Alonso has admitted to supplying evidence relating to the espionage scandal to F1's governing body.

But, with rumours circulating at Monza that his actions were vindictive and designed to help him ease out of his unhappy situation at McLaren, the Spaniard insisted that the FIA forced his hand.

"We were obligated to cooperate," Alonso, 26, is quoted as saying by the Spanish newspaper Diario As.

It emerged on Friday at the scene of the Italian grand prix that Max Mosley wrote to all McLaren drivers, threatening them with "serious consequences" if they did not give up written evidence - such as emails - that may implicate their team.

"I am a sportsman who loves this sport, and a professional," Alonso said, "and the only option I see is to support the investigation and to contribute when I am required.

"And when the highest authority of a sport obligates you to cooperate, there is no way to object -- it is not a choice."




Something is not meshing.....

 

I'm glad the drivers' championship race is still on. But will McClaren bring the A-team effort for the rest of the season? Doubt it. Ron Dennis is the likely sacrificial lamb, most public face of the team aside from the drivers, if they keep going.

FIA decisions are weird. If they came down this hard more regularly teams would be less likely to violate rules. Depending on the evidence (that we don't know) this judgement feels almost perfect for the crime.

But if the drivers knew about this they should not have been given immunity IMO. If true, they participated in the scandal.