McLaren espionage hearing

Wow. I was just speechless after I read that...

If I was Ron, I'd be sacking Alonso right now, and giving Hamilton the championship. Ron and Alonso havent spoken since Hungary according to reports.

As for DLR, I liked him at Jaguar and Arrows, I thought it would be nice having him in the Prodrive in 08. I think he wont be there anymore.

This also shows why Renault havent announced their drivers yet, because Alonso has potentially ruined his career after this. He was rumoured to have said a couple of months back, 3 WC would be enough for him to retire. Now we know why.

The fact McLaren set their strategy around Kimi stopping on L18 in Melbourne too doesnt do them any favours. I think Ron didnt know anything about it, but there is obviously some staffers and two drivers who were in on it.

We need a cracking Belgian GP to take some focus off this, F1 needs to fight back hard too.
 
Mclaren = Ferrari. They smelled, that they couldn't won on the track, they went backstage & got caught.

I'd bet 100$, without any "ferrari" info, they'd be competing with BMW or Renault, because of the "weight balance" on the new tyres.
 
ViperVX said:
Mclaren = Ferrari. They smelled, that they couldn't won on the track, they went backstage & got caught.

I'd bet 100$, without any "ferrari" info, they'd be competing with BMW or Renault, because of the "weight balance" on the new tyres.
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Feel free to post me $100 then since it says right there that they abandoned the Ferrari balance because their cars were so fundamentally different that it wouldn't have given them any advantage. Paypal is acceptable :)
 
But they TESTED IT. They used the info, they checked the info that works & knew they needed smth. else.

I Didn't say they copied it, i said USED it.
 
ViperVX said:
But they TESTED IT. They used the info, they checked the info that works & knew they needed smth. else.

I Didn't say they copied it, i said USED it.
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They didn't. They didn't even run the figures in the simulator.

3.10 Mr. de la Rosa's e-mail to Coughlan specifically stated that he wished to receive Ferrari's weight distribution for the purposes of testing it in the simulator the following day ("It would be important for us to know so that we could try it in the simulator"). Mr. de la Rosa explained to the WMSC at the meeting of 13 September 2007 that when Coughlan responded with the precise details in question, he (de la Rosa) decided that the weight distribution was so different to the McLaren car set up that it would not, in fact, be tested in the simulator. Mr de la Rosa says that thereafter he regarded the information as unimportant.
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I see what you're saying though. They considered it.
 
plus its not like they got the info whilst making this seasons car....they got it after the car was done, so it wasnt going to produce any huge improvements if any at all. i doubt mclaren would much, if any slower if they hadnt had knowledge of ferrari stuff just because of the time they recieved it.

still, they got more than one person in on it and intent to at least explore further the ferrari technical info.

i think the alonso blackmailing ron is probably media BS'ing the story up. but i can believe that they arent talking.

just heard on the radio about TG being criticised for hammonds crash..... seems the lentil eating bastards cant get into their head what a damn racing incident is.
 
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kekekeke said:
FIA have released the reasons
http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_2728560,00.html

Alonso and Rosa are in DEEEEEEP shit judging by those email exchanges.
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Can't believe Alonso is still in the running for the WDC after reading that. This season is a joke. Like I said yesterday, the whole McL team should of been BANNED for the remainder of 2007. Not because I want Ferrari to win by default (it's an empty victory), but to make a point--you can't cheat, lie, and deceive to such a degree in a high-profile sport and continue to be allowed to participate.

Congratulations to McL for destroying what was turning out to be the most exciting F1 season in years. In the words of Hamilton, go "swivel."

Edit: And now I'm reading that Raikkonen said that while he was with McL, they eavesdropped on Ferrari's radio transmissions. Real nice.
 
I think Alonso is still in the WDC because he provided the evidence against McLaren to the FIA. I read somewhere that he was given some sort of immunity for providing the emails. Clearly he knew the ramifications since he didn't bother to show up in Paris. No surprise then that he's 100% focused on winning this year's WDC at which case he'll probably just retire...depending on how all this shakes out. He may be OK for now, but who knows what will happen next year. I think he'd rather retire than go to a backmarker team.

Secondly, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that there's constant spying going on between the teams. de la Rosa's emails sounded so casual, as if it was an everyday thing. And I do agree with the FIA in that I'm sure de la Rosa wasn't acting alone and that he was most likely being told what to do with the information he was receiving. It's all smoke and mirrors anyway. Can't wait for the next four races!
 
Tobias said:
Edit: And now I'm reading that Raikkonen said that while he was with McL, they eavesdropped on Ferrari's radio transmissions. Real nice.
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That's nothing new really. Ferrari used to eavesdrop on McLarens radio all the time as well.
 
kekekeke said:
That's nothing new really. Ferrari used to eavesdrop on McLarens radio all the time as well.
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likely hood is everyones dropping on each other, thats why they have daft code words so that if encryption is broken its still hard to figure out.

super aguri are dark horses, i bet they have an army of ninja gibson hackers out back hax0r1ng the entire pitlane.
 
I also now believe that Alonso won't be at McLaren next year. And yes. Renault will be back in fighting form next year should Alonso reunite with his old team. Remember, McLaren in 2006 was just as useless as Renault is this year. It is no accident that McLaren's newfound competitiveness coincided with Alonso's entry into the team. Love him or hate him, Alonso has one skill that all others seem to lack, and that is the ability to setup his car properly. You can even clearly see that Hamilton has been struggling as of late because he now doesn't have access to Alonso's setup notes.

So whatever team Alonso may join next year, be it Renault or someone else. It'd be a safe bet that he'd be driving a competitive car. He isn't 2 time World Champion for nothing you know.
 
POWERRR!! said:
I also now believe that Alonso won't be at McLaren next year. And yes. Renault will be back in fighting form next year should Alonso reunite with his old team. Remember, McLaren in 2006 was just as useless as Renault is this year. It is no accident that McLaren's newfound competitiveness coincided with Alonso's entry into the team. Love him or hate him, Alonso has one skill that all others seem to lack, and that is the ability to setup his car properly. You can even clearly see that Hamilton has been struggling as of late because he now doesn't have access to Alonso's setup notes.

So whatever team Alonso may join next year, be it Renault or someone else. It'd be a safe bet that he'd be driving a competitive car. He isn't 2 time World Champion for nothing you know.
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I think you give Alonso too much credit. Let's have a look at the history.

2003 - Good car
2004 - Bad car
2005 - Good car
2006 - Bad car
2007 - Good car (debatable)

Reliability cost McLaren deeply in previous seasons. They have worked hard on this aspect and new 19k rev limit has helped a lot.

Alonso might know how to setup the car, but he doesn't design it. A setup can only go so far, and giving Alonso the whole credit for McLaren being so fast this year is ridiculous.

Alonso has stopped sharing data with Hamilton since Hungary, but to say Hamilton is struggling is too much. He was faster than Alonso in Q3 due to Alonso's setup mistake in choosing hard tires. Hamilton was leading Alonso when his tire blew. Since they stopped sharing, it's 1-1 in terms of setup. Let's see how Spa goes.

I highly doubt Alonso would be beating the BMWs if he joined Renault.
 
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Ecclestone admits McL came close to 2-year ban

Ecclestone admits McL came close to 2-year ban

Bernie Ecclestone revealed on Friday that McLaren came close to being kicked out of formula one during yesterday's World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris. Rumour was rife on Thursday afternoon that the 26-man FIA body, having found the team guilty of breaching the International Sporting Code in the light of new evidence, had triggered its earlier promise to exclude McLaren from the 2007 and 2008 championships. F1's chief executive, also member of the World Council, said at Spa-Francorchamps that the rumour was nearly reality. Ecclestone is quoted as saying by the BBC that the Council came within 'minutes' of officialising the verdict.

"It came very close to McLaren being thrown out, it really was a genuine possibility," he said.

"A few of us sort of battled on and campaigned for the ($100m) fine instead."

McLaren also had its constructors' points taken away, and Ecclestone insisted that a similarly hefty fine - that would put many of the smaller teams out of business - would be dished out in future for any more instances of espionage.

"Even if it is a smaller team than McLaren, they're gone, without any hesitation," the 76-year-old Briton said.

"The alternative to the fine was worse, being excluded from the championship for two years. It was much closer than everybody says it was."

Ecclestone reckoned that even Ron Dennis' team, with a turnover nudging (US) $500m a year, would have struggled to survive had it been forced to sit out next season.

"It really would have been bad news," he added. "McLaren would have lost more than they have been fined, if they'd have been able to keep going."
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http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/070914193118.shtml

McLaren is lucky Bernie took pity on them.
 
kekekeke said:
FIA can threaten as much as they like, they don't have the backbone to follow it through.
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Probably why McLaren lied to the FIA in July--thinking they could get away with it being a premier team crucial to the popularity of the sport. Whoops!
 
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