Drivers emails incriminate McLaren
September 15th 2007 03:21
Email evidence revealed
"The emails show unequivocally that both Mr Alonso and Mr de la Rosa received confidential Ferrari information via (Mike) Coughlan,” read the report.
"Both drivers knew that this information was confidential Ferrari information and that both knew that the information was being received by Coughlan from (Nigel) Stepney."
McLaren’s exclusion from the 2007 Constructor’s Championship, and their monster $100 million fine hinges on the evidence contained within the exchanges between the three.
The first damning email identified was test driver, Pedro de la Rosa’s March 21 message to then McLaren chief designer, Mike Coughlan, which read:
"Hi Mike, do you know the Red Car's Weight Distribution? It would be important for us to know so that we could try it in the simulator. Thanks in advance, Pedro.
p.s. I will be in the simulator tomorrow."
Coughlan, who had received extensive details of Ferrari’s cars from Nigel Stepney, then replied via text message with exact specifications.
De la Rosa forwarded these details to Alonso, who then discussed the differences between Ferrari’s distribution and that of his own car.
The Spaniards exchange continued, and with de la Rosa confirming Stepney’s involvement:
”All the information from Ferrari is very reliable It comes from Nigel Stepney, their former chief mechanic - I don't know what post he holds now. He's the same person who told us in Australia that Kimi was stopping in lap 18. He's very friendly with Mike Coughlan, our Chief Designer, and he told him that," he wrote back to Alonso.
The FIA report then went on divulge evidence that the two were also discussing and sharing Ferrari secrets regarding flexible wing components, aero balance, tyre gas and braking systems.
One particularly obvious exchange came from de la Rosa and Coughlan, when the Spaniard asked: “can you explain me as much as you can, Ferrari's braking system with the [reference to detailed technical information]? Are they adjusting from inside the cockpit...?"
Coughlan replied with a thorough technical description of Ferrari’s braking system, and concluded with: "we are looking at something similar".
The FIA report pointed out the importance of that exchange: “This latter statement strongly suggests that the McLaren system was being worked on from a position of knowledge of the details of the Ferrari system, which, even if the Ferrari system not being directly copied, must be more advantageous to McLaren than designing a system without such knowledge.”
Although the drivers enthusiastically discussed several of Ferrari’s secrets, there was no further evidence to suggest that it was used directly to benefit the cars.
Nevertheless, it was still enough to incriminate the parties, as the report states: “There is very clear evidence that both drivers knew that they were receiving unauthorised and confidential Ferrari information. To the WMSC's knowledge, no effort was taken to report or stem this flow”.
The report then went on to reveal more about the relationship between Coughlan and Stepney with evidence from Italian police who carried out an investigation on the disgraced Ferrari engineer.
“In total, at least 288 SMS messages and 35 telephone calls appear to have passed between Coughlan and Stepney between 11 March 2007 and 3 July 2007,” read the report.
”The new evidence regarding the number and timing of the contacts makes it far more likely that there was a systematic flow of Ferrari confidential information to Coughlan leading to the conclusion that the illicit communication of information was very likely not limited to the transmission of the Ferrari dossier discovered at Coughlan's home on 3 July 2007.”
The report also considered testimony from McLaren’s Managing Director, Jonathon Neale, who revealed Coughlan had reported to him that Stepney had sent him information.
Neale said he ordered Coughlan to cease contact with Stepney then set up a firewall to prevent further exchanges.
He also spoke of photographs that Coughlan showed him, which he ordered to be destroyed.
The WMSC decided that Neale’s actions were not satisfactory for what was happening, that instead of taking further action, he just swept it under the rug.
The report concluded that Coughlan was in a position to influence McLaren’s performance with the information that he had, and that there was no hesitation to use the information he divulged to de la Rosa and Alonso.
”The evidence leads the WMSC to conclude that some degree of sporting advantage was obtained, though it may forever be impossible to quantify that advantage in concrete terms” read the report.
“On this occasion the WMSC believes that a penalty is merited.”
| 33 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
