BUDAPEST — Formula One’s spy scandal continues to spawn accusations and letters between Ferrari and McLaren.
Ferrari is furious that McLaren escaped punishment in the spy scandal despite the World Motor Sports Council ruling that McLaren had broken article 151C of the International Sporting Code.
Luigi Macaluso, representing Ferrari, sent a letter to FIA President Max Mosley in which he asked why no penalty was inflicted. Macaluso said this sets a bad precedent.
He also claimed that Ferrari folks were only observers at the WMSC meeting and “did not have a full right of audience” and therefore asked Mosley to authorize an appeal.
Mosley replied that there was insufficient proof to warrant punishment.
However, Mosley said that if Ferrari really didn’t get a chance to put forward its case at the WMSC, and because of the importance of a correct ruling in the whole affair to ensure public confidence, that he would send the matter to the FIA Court of Appeal.
McLaren, meanwhile, says that Ferrari won the Australian Grand Prix with an illegal car, and it says that Ferrari is deliberately trying to tarnish McLaren’s reputation.
Those were just some of the points McLaren director Ron Dennis made in a five-page letter he sent to Macaluso. “McLaren’s reputation has been unfairly sullied by incorrect press reports from Italy and grossly misleading statements from Ferrari,” Dennis wrote.
In the letter Dennis said that Ferrari’s Nigel Stepney alerted McLaren’s Mike Coughlan about Ferrari’s movable floor system in March. McLaren notified the FIA which changed the rules to prevent the floors from moving after the Australian Grand Prix.
“Were it not for Mr. Stepney drawing this illegal device to the attention of McLaren ... there is every reason to suppose that Ferrari would have continued to race with an illegal car,” Dennis wrote.
McLaren told Coughlan to tell Stepney to cease contact, but the latter continued to send emails to Coughlan. While McLaren knew about these incidents, Dennis insists that the team did not know that Stepney passed 780 pages of confidential Ferrari data to Coughlan on April 28. The data, converted to computer discs, was found in Coughlan’s home.
Dennis said that Coughlan briefly showed McLaren’s managing director Jonathan Neale and engineer Rob Taylor a single piece of paper from the file, but that was the only “knowledge” anybody at McLaren had about the documents.
“Coughlan himself is categoric that he made no use of the Ferrari documents in the McLaren car,” Dennis wrote. “Mr. Coughlan’s job is related to the management of drawing production by the design staff. He did not have responsibility for the performance enhancement of the car.”
Dennis also refutes Macaluso’s statements that Ferrari was not given a proper opportunity to present its case in to the WMSC.
“Ferrari submitted a lengthy, albeit grossly misleading, memorandum dated 16th July 2007 along with supporting documents which together totaled 118 pages,” Dennis wrote. “In addition to this, Ferrari, who were represented by lawyers, were given several opportunities by the FIA President to ask questions and make submissions throughout the hearing. Mr. (Jean) Todt also gave evidence.”
In response to that letter, Ferrari put out a statement saying it “wishes to state very strongly that its (McLaren’s) letter contains accusations that are both serious and false.”
Ferrari says the cars it used in the Australian Grand Prix “were deemed by the Stewards to be in conformity with the technical regulations.” After that race, Ferrari said, the FIA issued a clarification on the interpretation of the regulation and then asked the teams concerned to make the necessary modifications.
And on and on it goes.