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Saturday, Sep 15, 2007
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Spy case: McLaren hit with record fine

PARIS: Spying doesn’t pay.

Accused of using leaked secret data from its main rival Ferrari, the Formula One team McLaren was hit with a record $100 million (euro72 million) fine on Thursday by the World Motor Sport Council in the biggest scandal to hit auto racing’s premier circuit.

Although McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso escaped punishment, the espionage claims have rocked the sport and tainted McLaren’s lead in the drivers’ standings.

The team, also stripped of its constructors’ points, already was battling accusations that it had used team orders to decide which driver would win races this season. Now, it is facing a new crisis.

The F-1 case broke in July when a 780-page technical dossier on Ferrari cars was found at the home of McLaren’s chief designer, Mike Coughlan, who was later suspended. Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney, who allegedly supplied the documents, was fired.

McLaren escaped censure by the World Motor Sport Council in July due to insufficient evidence that Ferrari’s technical documents were misused. But Honda’s revelations that Stepney and Coughlan had approached team boss Nick Fry in June about joining the F-1 team whipped up further concerns over Ferrari’s intellectual property.

The $100 million fine imposed on McLaren is 40 times larger than the previous F-1 record of $2.5 million.

Still, Dennis argued the fine was effectively halved because McLaren didn’t have to forfeit any revenue it had earned this season. He added that the financial strength of McLaren also would help absorb the impact of the fine.

“We still effectively have as an offset the revenue from the point earned to date,” he said. “That will probably effectively halve the size of the check that we ultimately have to sign — if we ultimately accept this fine.

“We turn over roughly $450 million to $500 million (euro324 million-euro360 million) a year and we are debt free, so we’re a very strong company (with) phenomenal growth.”

And it likely won’t cost McLaren the Formula One drivers’ title.

Hamilton, in his debut Formula One season, leads with 92 points, followed by two-time champion Alonso with 89. Raikkonen (74) and Massa (69) are third and fourth. And Alonso and Hamilton finished 1-2 in Sunday’s Italian GP — at Ferrari’s home track of Monza.

FIA said it did not penalise McLaren’s drivers “due to exceptional circumstances” because they provided evidence in exchange for immunity.

McLaren said it had been harshly treated on Thursday after Formula One’s governing body ended the team’s constructors’ championship hopes.

“We shouldn’t have been punished in this way,” chief executive Martin Whitmarsh told reporters after a hearing of the International Automobile Federation (FIA’s) World Motor Sport Council. — Agencies

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