F1 Spy Ruling Prompts Ferrari Anger

The F1 spying row has come to a resolution after the World Motorsport Council’s
disciplinary panel declined to impose any penalty on McLaren – a verdict that
prompted a furious response from rivals Ferrari.

The row had erupted after a McLaren engineer had been found to be in
possession of confidential Ferrari data but the panel ruled that there was
‘insufficient evidence’ to back claims that the leak had affected this year’s
title race.

Following the ruling, the Ferrari F1 team reacted with anger, a statement
reading: ‘This decision legitimises dishonest behaviour in F1 and sets a very
serious precedent. We feel this is highly prejudicial to the credibility of the
sport.’

McLaren described the verdict as ‘very balanced and fair’ due to the ‘purely
technical breach’ of the regulations.

McLaren’s chief designer Mike Coughlan, the man found in possession of the
confidential 780-page Ferrari technical dossier, has since been suspended by the
team.

Ferrari, who sacked former head of performance development Nigel Stepney over
his alleged role in the affair, said they could not see any logic in this
decision, and would continue with legal action in the Italian criminal courts
and English civil courts.

‘Ferrari finds it incomprehensible that violating the fundamental principle
of sporting honesty does not have, as a logical and inevitable consequence, the
application of a sanction,’ the team statement said.

‘In fact, the decision of the World Council signifies that possession,
knowledge at the very highest level and use of highly confidential information
acquired in an illicit manner and the acquiring of confidential information over
the course of several months, represent violations that do not carry any
punishment.

‘This is all the more serious as it has occurred in a sport like F1 in which
small details make all the difference.’