George from MD

Do I understand this correctly? That by all accounts the only benefit McLaren received from the information was the knowledge that Ferrari was cheating? And for this they receive a $100 MILLION fine and no constructors points? McLaren reps can't stand on the podium but the drivers can?

Surely if the team benefited the drivers did as well, no? As long as we're dishing out mega-punishment let's really p*ss the fans off- and take away the drivers points too. Of course they can win but they can't get on the podium. Proof of what a farce this verdict is.

IMO the verdict was over the top and more proof that the FIA intend to make F1 a one team series (well maybe three- Ferrari needs a farm team, and then some one to serve as "competition"). The FIA has made a mountain out of a molehill and has seriously diminished the sport. Airing their dirty laundry in public and coming up with an inconsistent and overly severe verdict. Exactly what Sir Jackie said he hoped would not happen.

H*ll if I were RD I'd take that little weasel Bernie outside and beat the living sh*t out of him. The it would be Max's turn. And if I were Haug I'd give the morons who looked at that information their final paycheck- take my $ out of F1- and refuse to service their S classes much less sell them new ones.

Too sad and too bad.

A.Wayne

If it was'nt for Bernie they would have been excluded in 08 and lose the drivers
championship 07 and 08 ...

Jarez Mifkin

Are you serious? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Team A know's how Team B's car is designed and Team A designs their car better than Team B's car, but Team A is only winning because of a driver, not because they cheated and saw the flaws in their own car compared to Team B and then redesigned said flaws to make their car better. Come on man!!!

Do we all remember that McLaren said that the Ferrari had a moveable understray at the first race? how in the world would Mc know that if they didn't look at the book used to design the Ferrari??????????

A.Wayne

Ahh, Hmmm I think fuenfer was being Sarcastic
He is not on the list of Alonso fans , which was given to me by the Finn

gab997

Didnt A.Wayne feel that S. Speed was the best....

Oh yea and dont forget Ralphie

fuenfer

Quite correct on all counts!

chris walrod

I feel this whole mess is silly. The FIA banned wing covers or other means of hiding the car while off-track. So, anyone with a camera, and there are thousands hanging around all weekend, can snap away and make it public in a matter of minutes if so desired.

At that point from just about any picture, one can correctly scale and reproduce just about anything. This, in addition to, the fact that information sharing is commonplace. Heck, even I have many drawings from the BAR Honda.

ltc

Something tells me that Ferrari wasn't in the sharing mood with McLaren.....just a guess.

A.Wayne

SO you are admitting to having a hand in Honda's poor performance

Flying Finn

Shhh... As I told you when we met at the airport, you need to shred & burn that document...
(but just in case I might want it back, please have it scanned to a compact disc, I'm sure there are reliable places here in US who can do that for you)

Jarez Mifkin

Phew, good to hear! I'm not on that list either!!!

amaist

I guess, now Ferrari should be allowed to use the moveable undertray. The evidence of it's existence was illegally obtained and FIA should disregard that information. And Ferrari should be regarded as the most honest team in F1.

I think F1 should adopt the Harlem Globetrotters model of competition. The show is always the red car winning but every time it's with a new twist.

George from MD

"If it was'nt for Bernie they would have been excluded in 08 and lose the drivers
championship 07 and 08 ..."

Well if that's really the case (and you are probably correct) it's only additional proof of what a political sh*thole this is.

And I'd still beat the crap out of Bernie- he deserves it on general principal. Did I mention I would save the bat for Max?

cupcar86

No kidding, I think Tony Stewart was comparing the wrong race series to the WWF.

M758

The statements of Mike Coughlin clearly state that it was Stepny that tipped off McLaren to the moving floor. At the time McLaren took the info direct to the FIA who consided it rulled it not legal. The floor had been legal by default before then since it passed the FIA test. The FIA subsequently increase the testing load and therefore Ferrari had to to make the floor stiffer still.

This was case of Ferrari stretching the rules to the limit and then being told no you can't do that anymore. Consider it similar the Renault mass damper in the nose that not nixed last year. It was legal until Charlie Whiting found out and "declared it a moveable aero device".

It was not this information that McLaren is in trouble for. Frankly I have not seen any information that states what the penalties on McLaren are for. Earlier in the year they were noted as having Ferrari documents, but no evidence was shown that they used the information (remember is long after the moving floor thing). At the time there was no penalty as a result. Now one can only assume the the FIA determined McLaren did use the Ferrari information to benefit the team and cars. How so is not clear. The other element not clear is that the "benefit" may have been small, but most of the penalty comes from "covering up" this fact in the earlier hearing. For example if McLaren used some set-up and tire data to allow them to come to good set-up with bridgestones 1 races sooner than otherwise the gain may have been rather small and that may have been worth taking away points for one race. However since they lied about using the Ferrari data the FIA is throwing the book at them. May be it is like the watergate break ins. The breakins were bad, but come clean early and get minor penalty. However hide, lie and cover up and once exposed you get the book thrown at you.

I wonder if they will release what the data related to how it is supposed to have helpled McLaren?