Wow! Mclaren is out of the contructors championship! But this is quite stupid. So Mclaren 'could' be running a cheating car and still wins the drivers championship. It's like running V12 engine. This move is obviously trying to reduce the damaging impact to the sport....sorry, I meant business. If one team is caught cheating, everyone should be penalised. Imagine Hamilton will not get his chance to become the youngest world champion ever because of cheating car...
While we yet to see the official report yet. For McLaren to be so competitive all the sudden since the second race especially since they didn't even win a single race last season...to me I say they did use Ferrari's specs into their car this year. Sorry to the McLaren Fans but I say they deserves worse than that. And they say MS was unsportsmanlike.
I wouldn't use this to predict whether they have cheated or not. It's very common to go up hill and down hill in just one race, proven many times before. Hmm...Ferrari is satisified with the outcome. I guess there's no additional proof. I heard from somewhere there's some more proof about the cheating. I guess they are just rumours.
And it happened on my birthday! Today is my birthday too, according to Chinese calendar. No need too many presents, an iPhone would be enuf.
I'm not predicting just speculating... if you've seen the answer of one of the top student in an exam, wouldn't your answer be influenced by it at all. We'll just have to wait and see the official report.
From the latest report, I think Mclaren should be banned from racing for the rest of the year. It's incredible they can lie and get away with it, when BAR was banned from 3 races because of lying about the hidden fuel tank. http://www.fia.com/resources/documents/17844641__WMSC_Decision_130907.pdf
I just think that there are so many unanswered questions about all of this. This whole episode just stinks.
If you read the entire judgement put out by the FIA (which you can find on www.planet-f1.com), then it is perhaps quite fair to state that the punishment is not commiserate with the crime. WHilst I can understand the issue of docked points (in this case, McLaren have been deducted 183 points - ouch) I do not feel that the U$100 million dollar fine is justified. Not only does the question arise of where the money will actually go to once it has been disbursed into the coffers of the FIA, but there is also a question of whether or not McLaren gained any actual benefit. Some may point out that McLaren have gained almost a second of pace in comparison to the wretched season they had last year as proof that they have been cheating and profiting from the 'insider knowledge' gleaned from Ferrari. However, all proof so far has centered around allegations and subsequent investigations that have proven any informational exchange began in March, by which time of course McLaren and Ferrari had already unveiled their challengers for the 2007 World Championship, thereby precluding any chance of any of these 'new ideas' to be incoroprated into key components of the McLaren machinery. Another thing to consider is that for the fundamental aspects of performance to be enhanced by employing the use other teams' intellectual property, the chassis' involved must have some basic similiarities. Now,Ferrari this year moved from the single-keel design of its F1 248 challenger last year, to the Zero keel design of the F2007. The net effect of this change was to mess up the front suspension geometry and front wing aerodynamics, resulting in different airflow. McLaren had been using a zero-keel since Adrian Newey left, in 2005. So why would McLaren seek to use information from a team that was already in theory, behind in terms of development? Also, the tip-offs regarding the information that Nigel Stepney passed on to Mike Coughlan, centred around the now-illegal movable floors, rear wing design and devices that influenced the level of the Ferrari's floorpan, as well as ideas on brake balancing and weight distribution. Were they ideas that could have been used to make the McLarens go faster? Of course. But whose to say McLaren had already thought of them? And it is interesting to note that even the WMSC themselves cannot find a way as to how these things could have given McLaren and unfair sporting advantage, even though they claim that it has. Here is an interesting extract from the FIA judgement which is what Mike Coughlan has already said So they spy on each other anyway, right? Even Ferrari do it. More interesting extracts from the FIA judgement:- And the most interesting one so far :- Conclusion? McLaren are being punished for a theoretical and forensically unproven technical advantage gained from Nigel Stepney. And it is sad to note that McLaren have been punished not actually for spying, but for being the recipient of information from a disgruntled Ferrari employee who wished he had been treated slightly better by a team he had given his all for. But if there is one thing that I do not find any easier to stomach at all was that this situation had to arise in the first place. Having been a McLaren and Williams supporter for almost 2 decades now (coming to 16 years of following F1), I do feel that the handling of the Ferrari information should have been dealt with much earlier, and that Ron Dennis is at fault for being far too trusting of his employees and not having a more stringent management structure in place. As if McLaren haven't suffered enough already : The FIA shall be looking over their shoulders as they design their 2008 car. >.<
