JUST TO GET THIS STRAIGHT... What happened there was that the NEW TRACK had NEW PEOPLE working on the track, the meassuring was COLLECTED IMPROPERLY, well...here, someone said it better... ..."few people through out the internet that today’s FIA decision is not different to FIA decision favored Ferrari in the Malaysian Prix 1999. To refresh the case, it was about Ferrari Bargeboards side being out of spec size. Some people are saying, as it was then, today decision is the same, to favor motor sport, in this case F1. What people failed to see is that the penalization made by the steward was wrong because it didn’t comply FIA rules to achieve the Ferrari bargeboards measures, in few words, Bargeboards measure were taken wrongly by FIA standards and that is why Ferrari was found innocent. The major difference was that Ferrari was FOUND INNOCENT (NOT GUILTY AS MACCA CASE) So, using this comparison to say it was for the good of the sport is absurd. Moreover, if you read this case in a few years, you will ask yourselves (as many people doing today) How come someone is found guilty of something and this person is not been penalized????"... DECISION of International Court of Appeal Malasya 1999 from the FIA Image Unavailable, Please Login
In the eve of testing at the GP of Hungary, both Ferrari drivers made the following statements: MASSA: " This is not a nice thing for the sport. It is reality but our reality is to win". Is spying part of the game? "It depends on the spies, there is spying that is part of the game like photographing the cars...and there is another type of spying that is not. There are things that are not nice and therefore you have to fight to obtain justice. Read throught it McLaren, it's impossible to make a mistake." ( the last sentence is very powerful ) KIMI's interview with the BBC - "You know what? To be honest, it would be beautiful if things were decided in the track". The finnish addressing Ron Dennis places the dots on the "i"; " By the way, if what he said was true regarding the GP in Australia we would have been disqualified. I don't believe what he said is exact. With regard to this GP, my objective is the pole. It will be a battle and you can bet on it." ( these are a lot of words for Kimi ) HUSH MCLAREN? - The answer of the McLaren? The two drivers have team orders not to speak.
August 2, 2007 Luigi Macaluso, president of the Italian Motorsport Federation, responded to Ron Denniss letter by restating his view that it is up to the FIA's International Court of Appeal to settle the case. The Italian politely said he was not in any position nor was his role to address Denniss points but said there are differences between the two team's version of events, necessitating the Appeal Court to hear the case. Macaluso added that, regardless of McLarens version of events, it was highly irregular that the McL team having been found guilty of the charges of breaching Article 151c were not punished. Macaluso said that, because of the potential ramifications of this case for the sport, it was imperative that the FIA set the right precedent. Macaluso further dispenses with RD argument that Ferrari was given a full opportunity to present its case, by stating that Ferrari was only an observer and was not able to present its case or cross-examine McL and challenge their evidence. The hearing before the International Court of Appeal will occur at the end of August in front of 4-5 real judges/lawyers.
BUDAPEST (Hungary), August 3, 2007 - At the end Ferrari has found an unexpected ally, who is also a party of interest, as this same ally last year here in Budapest paid dearly for a strange mechanism called mass damper. Flavio Briatore, team manager of the Renault team, is asking for the expulsion from F.1 of the two protagonists, Nigel Stepney and Mike Coughlan. As if it was not enough, Flavio is also asking for equality in treatment " if it is true that McL had information, it needs to be punished immediately", just like we were punished immediately last year for the mass damper.
The 30th of July Macaluso writes a letter to Mosley, the 31st Mosley answers, August the 1st Dennis answers Macaluso and Agust the 2nd Macaluso responds to Dennis, today Ferrari writes Dennis and Dennis writes Macaluso. The Chairman of Ferrari Luca Cordero di Montezemolo counterattacks "These are serious and false accusations". Excerpts from the official letter reads "Ferrari wishes to assert forcefully that the RD letter contains false and serious accusations. Contrarily to what Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, asserts, Ferrari has never benefited from anything that has been obtained illegally. The two F2007 used in the GP of Australia have been judged to be in conformity of the FIA technical regulations from the Stewards before, during and after the race; if they were judged illegal, they would have been disqualified. Ferrari has moreover confirmed that it will make itself heard at the end of the month in front of the International Court Appeals of the FIA on the merit of the espionage case." Now it appears that Macaluso has the last word and he answers RD with a telegram stating "I am in agreement with you on the fact that we should leave this issue to the FIA International Court of Appeals ”.
Flavio has insinuated to the italian press that while his team is still struggling with the tires McL is not and he is very suspicious that the McL team benefited from Ferrari know-how. He also wants McL punished with the exclusion from F.1, which according to the regulations is the penalty for possessing proprietary information. He feels his team has been damaged by the McLs advantage. Flavio has announced that he will be present at the Appeal Court at the end of August. If McL had the Ferrari documents in April or later this would not hold up unless there is remote possibility that spying occurred at a much earlier date in a different form or venue (which may be what Flavio is suggesting). Also it is interesting to note that Bridgestone should have all the Ferrari data on the tires and may have to some extent provided some of the data to all the teams.
MORE ON THE SPY STORY - After the venomous letters of the past few days, Ron Dennis tries to stretch his hand to Ferrari: " I am prepared to sit down among ourselves since we are the teams involved and find a peaceful solution". The CEO of Vodaphone Maclaren Mercedes further states that "The responsibilities in this case lie with our employees, the former designer Mike Coughlan and the former chief mechanic of Ferrari Nigel Stepney. " I don't think the right thing to do is to denounce the informers". Jean Todt has promptly replied " We are not interested in pursuing this course of action - no deal ".
Just minutes before the GP started with the cars on the grid, Sky interviewed first RD then JT. At the suggestion of RD "let's try knocking the wall down", JT answered " It is too late. I would have wanted to hear this propostion 4 months ago and we could have avoided a lot of damage to the sport's image". This is Ferrari's second no to RD in 2 days, but more importantly it establishes a date of "4 months ago". It is also interesting to note that Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat, had already previously excluded any possibility of talks stating that "this spy story is deplorable". Is RD's attempt to pacify Ferrari a sign that he is trying to look good as a show for the FIA Court of Appeals or is he frightened by having the sword of Damocles over his head?
