FIA publishes McLaren emails
Emails from Fernando Alonso were presented as evidence
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Friday, 14, Sep 2007 04:10
The governing body of formula one has chosen to publish the series of emails that appear to incriminate the McLaren team in the 'spying' scandal.
McLaren were fined a record $100 million (£49.2 million) and expelled from the 2007 constructors' championship for their part in the acquisition and use of Ferrari's intellectual property, including technical data and information.
Ron Dennis, the McLaren principle, has protested his and his team's innocence in public since the end of the hearing, saying the Woking-based constructor "did not deserve" the punishment meted out.
However today's publication of the text of the emails that were presented at the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) hearing seems to suggest otherwise.
Certain exchanges between McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa and main driver Fernando Alonso clearly show the two men have knowledge of the technical data of the Ferrari cars.
The pair are seen to discuss a variety of issues, including the weight balance of the 'Red Car', the braking system, wing settings and aerodynamics.
One particular email also hints at a discussion between McLaren's suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan and his friend Nigel Stepney, a former employee of Ferrari, over race strategy.
In response to an email from Alonso, in which the Spaniard questions the reliability of the data as being from Ferrari, De la Rosa says: "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 [Ferrari driver] Kimi [Raikkonen] was stopping in lap 18. He's very friendly with Mike Coughlan, our chief designer, and he told him that."
While the WMSC committee admitted that Raikkonen actually stopped on lap 19, it said "the fact remains that Mr De la Rosa cited this information as a reason to believe that Stepney was a reliable source of information".
"This strongly suggests that McLaren had at least taken account of this information in determining its own strategy [in the race]," the committee added.
Another exchange saw the two drivers discussing Ferrari's use of a gas in their tyres that "reduces the internal temperature and blistering".
De la Rosa writes in an email, "we'll have to try it, it's easy!" to which Alonso replies, saying it is "very important" that tests are conducted on the gas information because "they have something different from the rest".
In addition to the McLaren emails, there was also new evidence presented to the WMSC committee that cast further light on the roles of Coughlan and Stepney within the scandal.
According to the records of Italian police, the committee said, nearly 300 text messages and 35 telephone calls had passed between Coughlan and Stepney between March 11th 2007 and July 3rd 2007.
"The number of contacts increased considerably during private tests carried out by Ferrari in Malaysia at the end of March 2007 and in the run up to and during the days of the grands prix in Australia on March 18th 2007, Malaysia on April 8th 2007, Bahrain on April 15th 2007 and Spain on May 13th 2007," the committee added.
"In light of the number and timing of the communications between Coughlan and Stepney and the email exchanges between the McLaren drivers, the WMSC regards it as reasonable to infer that Coughlan was in receipt of a flow of confidential Ferrari information from Stepney and that at least some of that information was communicated to others within McLaren."
Since the hearing ended, Ferrari have said they are "satisfied that the truth has now emerged".
It is still unclear whether or not McLaren intend to appeal the fine or the exclusion from the constructors' championship.