McLaren Accuse Ferrari Of Cheating In F1 Row

The spying row that has blighted the F1 season refuses to go away after McLaren
wrote an open letter to governing body the FIA accusing rival Ferrari of using
illegal machinery in its car in the first race of the year.

McLaren, who itself had been cleared by the FIA World Motorsport Council of
cheating despite technical documents belonging to a Ferrari performance director
Nigel Stepney being found in the home of a McLaren engineer, had clearly felt
aggrieved by the aggressive accusations undertaken by their main rivals.

In the letter, McLaren team boss Ron Dennis states: ‘McLaren’s reputation has
been unfairly sullied by incorrect press reports from Italy and grossly
misleading statements from Ferrari.’

Dennis goes on to accuse Ferrari of using illegal elements in its car in the
first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix, which was won by Ferrari
driver Kimi Raikkonen.

He wrote: ‘Ferrari only withdrew the floor device after it was confirmed to
be illegal by the FIA.

‘Were it not for Stepney drawing this illegal device to the attention of
McLaren, and McLaren drawing it to the attention of the FIA, there is every
reason to suppose that Ferrari would have continued to race with an illegal car.

‘It is in the interests of F1 that whistle-blowing is encouraged and not
discouraged. If team members think that their identity will be revealed they
will not whistle-blow.

‘It would be a tragedy if one of the best world championships in years was
derailed by the acts of one Ferrari and one McLaren employee acting for their
own purposes wholly unconnected with Ferrari or McLaren.

‘We believe the Ferrari press releases, the leaks to the Italian press and
recent events have been damaging to Formula One as well as McLaren.’

Despite the FIA World Motorsport Council deciding not to take the spying
complaint against McLaren further, a strongly-worded letter from Italian
motorsport president Luigi Macaluso to FIA president Max Mosley earlier this
week led to the latter deciding to send the verdict not to punish McLaren to its
court of appeal.

Dennis’ 3,000-word letter is addressed to both Macaluso and Mosley.