.png "os2 trasparenza (1)")
The Ferrari spy story is being enriched with a new chapter. According to the opinion of the British newspaper The Times, the Maranello team has prepared a 166-page-long dossier to nail McLaren to its responsibility. A weapon that Ferrari is preparing to use before the World Motorsport Council in Paris. It would reportedly be a dossier full of unpublished details that, at least that is what they hope in Maranello, should hold McLaren accountable. The Ferrari dossier, already in the hands of the FIA, would not only contain a report on the dense email exchange between Pedro De La Rosa, McLaren test driver, and Fernando Alonso, but also phone and text message records between Mike Coughlan, McLaren’s former chief designer, and chief mechanic Nigel Stepney. According to The Times, when the two drivers needed clarification about the new technological solutions learned from Ferrari, they approached Coughlan, who then reported back to Stepney. A round of contacts that could soon prove to be formidable evidence against McLaren and its boss Ron Dennis. A source close to the FIA Council also revealed to the British newspaper that the McLaren drivers do not risk long disqualifications other than a severe penalty in the World Championship standings. More complex is McLaren's situation: on the one hand the Ferrari dossier hangs in the balance, on the other the need to prove specifically how certain technical solutions were used by the British team. Instead, the Woking team will try to prove that the exchange of emails between the drivers was limited and that this does not prove the use of Ferrari's confidential information. Meanwhile, the Italian investigation is not closed. The British spy story goes on until mid-October. And it is possible that more may be added to the seven Formula 1 suspects (accused of espionage, sports fraud, embezzlement and copyright infringement against Ferrari). Already in the second report delivered by Domenico Vulpiani of the cyber police to the Modena prosecutor's office there are elements against several accomplices of the Stepney-Coughlan duo, accomplices outside McLaren and outside Ferrari. Prosecutor Tibis will evaluate them when, in mid-October precisely, the investigative phase closes. The last month, consisting of a brief but intense summer investigation, aims to consolidate the evidence collected against the seven - Stepney and the six from McLaren. Then the final leap forward will be attempted: the involvement of McLaren drivers. Hamilton excluded. The exchange of emails between test driver Pedro de la Rosa and Fernando Alonso is a good basis for expanding the number of those who learned and took advantage of Ferrari’s secrets. The prosecution is sure of it: that material - the 780 pages of photos, diagrams, calculations, test reports (done on the track, in the wind tunnel, at Ferrari’s racing department) - brought a clear advantage to McLaren. Investigators say:
"There are years of studies and applications of McLaren’s first opponent in there. Taking a look at it surely helped the British team to direct its research in order to verify the result obtained on different individual parts".
In the minimalist hypothesis, thanks to Stepney’s theft, McLaren saved time and a lot of money. Two things that in Formula 1 translate into tenths of a second advantage. Ron Dennis also knew and McLaren’s boss also saw and used those pages. This is the cornerstone of the criminal indictment and will become the key of the Paris sports trial. The evidence of his guilt was provided by Dennis himself. The seizures made by the cyber police led to the two letters in which the patron, pointing out Ferrari irregularities to the FIA - the floor to be used at the debut in Melbourne and the rear wing - demonstrates that information from Nigel Stepney, Ferrari’s unfaithful chief mechanic, reached him. The authentic signature under those precise, detailed letters, aimed at hitting the Maranello team with information that can only be obtained from the inside, are the autograph placed by Dennis under his notice of indictment. And now McLaren’s team principal, who is in danger of having to sell his shares to Mercedes, is building a counter-dossier on Ferrari (another is ready against Renault, but it will not be examined anytime soon) with the help of Stepney himself, who has come to England in recent weeks. A spy story, no question about it. Organised, techno-savvy and ready - on commission - to take secrets away from Ferrari and deliver them to McLaren in Woking. The latest on Nigel Stepney, the Maranello team’s former chief mechanic with the reddish beard and the sharp manners, impresses and moves the story onto a cinematic plan. The man in early 2007, already in conflict with his superiors, photographed and videotaped Ferrari drawings and schematics in his office inside the Maranello racing department.
Camera and video camera in his bag, Stepney, when he realised that he could be controlled when he left the company - Ferrari had started monitoring his movements, the man was giving signs of corporate infidelity - locked himself in his office on several occasions and from there, alone, he reproduced Ferrari's secrets with a small digital camera and a state-of-the-art video camera. Then, sometimes directly from the office, other times from Stella’s living room in Serramazzoni, Stepney e-mailed shots and footage to Mike Coughlan, McLaren’s chief designer, who printed and delivered them to top management in his Lightwater cottage. Stepney deleted these media files from both computers he owned, but the cyber police engineers in Rome were able to recover the sending dates and some of the contents. It is another investigative finding, this one, that shows that the passing of papers between Stepney and Coughlan was anything but artisanal, impromptu. The two saw each other at least four times this year, once in Barcelona, the other three in England. And then, in constant streams, Stepney emailed information to his contact, Coughlan distributed it to McLaren top management, who then passed it on to the drivers. It is no coincidence that the emails between test driver Pedro de la Rosa and first driver Fernando Alonso will be decisive in deciding McLaren’s sporting future. These latter emails, the most important in the hands of the FIA, would have been given to the Federation’s commissioners by Alonso himself, who is becoming more and more an accusing witness for McLaren’s racing team. His own team. According to the investigative and sporting reconstructions, when the Spanish driver needed to verify the new technological solutions learned from Ferrari he turned to Coughlan, who promptly wrote to Stepney. A chain of espionage organised to gain competitiveness. On Thursday, September 13, 2007, the World Council will also have to investigate these latest revelations: is it true that the McLaren team used a simulator in Woking to test the innovations learned from Stepney? And that the brake balance system was simply cloned? The spy story has now become the precipitate of three different investigations: now running in parallel, now getting mixed up with effects that are difficult to control. The cyber police, who operated on cell phones, computers and PDAs, had to hand over some results to the offending party - Ferrari - while the investigation was ongoing.
The Maranello team, thus, verified the information already obtained through an internal investigation and thanks to the civil lawsuit filed in the High Court in London. Having compiled an articulate and in-depth dossier, Ferrari Spa sent everything to the FIA, which in turn had collected testimony on its own and compiled an independent dossier. The Modena public prosecutor’s office in turn acquired the London papers - very important are the sworn testimonies of Coughlan, his wife and the owner of the copy shop where Coughlan’s wife tried to copy Ferrari’s secrets - and, finding confirmation of its investigations, sent the seven notices of indictment. Now Prosecutor Tibis will also ask for the FIA dossier, which will feed into the latest phase of the investigation. It is a dangerous crossroads, one that threatens to expose Formula 1. Not least because all this volume of anti-McLaren fire is being compounded by Ron Dennis’ response. The man has constructed an accusatory dossier on Renault (which will not be analysed in Paris) and one, more voluminous, against Ferrari. The consultant on the latter dossier is Nigel Stepney himself. He has been in Woking these days, and told the McLaren boss everything he has learned in his fourteen years at Ferrari, including the wrongdoings. The day of reckoning has arrived. McLaren on the stand, with weighty accusations that make it tremble, Ferrari on the attack, with the evidence it had announced, a 166-page dossier already delivered to the FIA, a detailed volume of charges that for the Maranello team proves irrefutably the British team’s guilt. The theatre of the clash is Paris, Place de la Concorde, the same World Council that on July 26, 2007, in a shock ruling, had saved McLaren, determining, in the absence of firm evidence of Ferrari’s use of secrets on Alonso and Hamilton’s cars, a staggering dismissal. Much has changed since then. First the FIA contradicted itself, with President Max Mosley (who is also head of the World Council) deciding to reopen the case and turn it over to an Appeals Tribunal, and then it contradicted itself again, cancelling the Appeal and returning the case to the World Council, because new evidence against McLaren had appeared in the meantime. Since then, against the backdrop of venom and mutual accusations (because McLaren boss Dennis has also submitted dossiers against Renault and Ferrari, only they will not be discussed today in Paris), the scenario has changed profoundly, the Maranello team has managed to produce more circumstantial accusations, as evidenced by the dossier sent to the Federation, and now there are those who believe it is impossible for McLaren to get away with it.
At stake, through the most disparate hypotheses of sanctions, are the fate of this World Championship (drivers’ and constructors’ titles) and the composition of the next one. This is because the starting point can only be the ruling of July 26, 2007, the one that, while saving McLaren, threatened them with exclusion from this World Championship and the 2008 one if new evidence emerged. Now it seems that these charges, it was the FIA itself that said so when it replaced the Appeals Tribunal with a new World Council, have come out, so the team feels cornered. Many people seem to have brought them up. Certainly Ferrari, which in its dossier shows how between Stepney, its fired employee, and Coughlan, the other suspended McLaren executive, there were several contacts, particularly dense during tests and Grands Prix, exchanges (complete with phone records as proof) of information based on e-mails (more than 100), text messages, phone calls (more than 200), reinforced not by one (Saturday, April 28, 2007 in Barcelona), but by four meetings. In addition, again according to the Maranello team’s opinion, there would be evidence that Mike Coughlan passed on Ferrari secrets to Paddy Lowe, another British team executive, and from these would reach first the test driver Pedro de La Rosa and then the driver Fernando Alonso. A rather heavy accusatory picture that the two-time World Champion himself, in his written testimony sent to the FIA, allegedly endorsed. Fernando Alonso in the days of the Italian Grand Prix clarified:
"I am not a spy. The FIA is the reference body of my sport, collaborating with it is my duty".
Words that would corroborate his statement. The air for McLaren has become heavy. In Paris (among the 26 members of the World Council also two Italians, Marco Piccinini and Luigi Macaluso, while Jean Todt will leave the room at the time of the vote) it could come out badly. Certainly its leader, Ron Dennis, risks being banned. The team could lose all points in the Constructors’ World Championship standings or be expelled for two years, with Mercedes poised to take its place. Chairman Max Mosley promised amnesty to drivers who cooperated (Alonso did, Hamilton did not). They could get away with disqualification (more the Spaniard than the Englishman), but still lose points. Leaving Räikkönen and Massa with the excitement of a championship battle. All that being said, on Thursday, September 13, 2007, McLaren was ordered to pay a $100.000.000 fine, the cancellation of all points in the Constructors' World Championship for this season, and an investigation still open to consider possible penalties for 2008. Ferrari thus wins the Constructors' World Championship, which entitles it to an $80.000.000 prize. Ron Dennis' team at this point is in serious danger of bankruptcy because sponsors may abandon it and it will also have to deal with its drivers, who cooperated in the investigation. In addition, it will receive special treatment for 2008, because before each Grand Prix next year McLarens will be checked inch by inch by race stewards (an analysis that the rules normally provide only for winning cars and others picked randomly). McLaren, which currently has a seasonal budget of more than $400.000.000, closed its last budget with net profits of $4.900.000. Forty percent of the team's shares are owned by DaimlerChrysler through Mercedes. The Mumtalakat Holding Company, linked to the Kingdom of Bahrain, owns 30 percent. The remaining 15% belongs to Ron Dennis and his partner Mansour Ojjeh. In all cases, this is a very harsh sentence, excluding the drivers - but only because they provided evidence useful to the investigation - and which hands the World Constructors’ Championship to Ferrari, which is currently in second place with 143 points, chased by BMW on 86 points. Hamilton and Alonso can therefore continue their fight in the Drivers’ World Championship, although Felipe Massa is now quick to declare that for him the hopes of winning the title are always open and that he will fight until the end. Ferrari’s reaction was immediate:
"Ferrari takes note of the Fia’s decision to sanction Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for violation of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code. In light of the new evidence examined, facts and conduct of exceptional gravity and seriously prejudicial to the interest of the sport have been further substantiated. Ferrari is satisfied that the truth about this matter has emerged".
What about McLaren? Norbert Haug, the head of Mercedes Motorsport, calls the decision a shock to the whole team. Later, Ron Dennis is not particularly impressed:
"Our drivers remain in the running for the World Championship, that's the important thing. We did not deserve to be punished in this way. Drivers, engineers and the entire staff clearly demonstrated that McLaren did not use any information that came in not lawfully to gain a competitive advantage. McLaren has never denied that information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of its employees at his house. The question is was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today".
According to Ron Dennis, Nigel Stepney and Mike Coughlan were only looking for work at Honda or Toyota. Thus ends the Ferrari-McLaren spy story, which has kept the entire Formula One world in stalemate for 84 days, and which has emptied every sporting event of meaning: did McLaren dominate at Monza? They will throw it away anyway. Ferrari seems resurrected? It will all be decided on September 13, 2007, anyway. In short, a delirium that has thrown sportsmen and drivers into utter confusion. Now the verdict has finally arrived: the 26 delegates, chaired by Max Mosley, met this morning to decide the sentence, and in addition to the two protagonist teams, McLaren under indictment and Ferrari as injured party, other teams such as Spyker, Williams, Renault and Red Bull Racing participated in the Council as observers. No indication of the timing of the ruling. It was Spyker team principal Collin Kolles who first revealed the contents of the FIA ruling. In the afternoon, however, it quickly became clear to everyone that things were looking bad for Dennis’ team. And not only because the Spanish sites (which obviously have a preferential channel with their drivers Alonso and de La Rosa) supported the theory of the two-year suspension for Ron Dennis: Lewis Hamilton was interrogated for three hours straight. An interrogation that must not have been at all easy because judging by the sentence it is clear that he and Fernando Alonso were treated as repentants. The day was long and painful, seven hours of hearing, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, with ample opportunity for McLaren’s attorneys to defend themselves and for Ferrari’s (led by Englishman Nigel Tozzi) to attack, and two hours of Council Chamber, with the judges meeting (without Jean Todt, the Maranello CEO, who left the room out of fairness) before 5:00 p.m. and delivering the verdict at almost 7:00 p.m..
The British team has been through a lot, because at one point the thesis of complete exclusion from two World Championships, the current one and the next, seemed to prevail, as particularly delicate moments were experienced by the two drivers, who all of a sudden seemed doomed (to the joy of Räikkönen and Massa, who are chasing them in the standings) and were saved thanks to a loophole, the good word of Max Mosley, who allowed, exceptionally, to separate the drivers’ title from the constructors’ title, corresponding in reality to one and the same thing. McLaren trembled, Alonso and Hamilton trembled, then suddenly the air became less heavy and in the end, at least at the drivers’ level, Dennis’ team can rejoice. For the Constructors’ World Championship, however, there was nothing to be done: the FIA, which for now has entrusted its ruling to a brief communiqué pending Saturday’s publication of the reasons, decided to strip the British team of all the points scored in the first thirteen races and not to count those obtained in the last four, starting with the Belgian Grand Prix. McLaren plummets to zero, at this point its appeal (due to be discussed in Paris next week) for the return of the 15 points denied in Budapest also becomes useless, Ferrari jumps to the top of the standings, and all the teams advance one place in the rankings. This is the only revolution; the standings suffer no other, because the points taken away from McLaren will not be awarded to rival teams. The future is another story: from now on the allocation will not take into account the placement of the British team's drivers, the points will be distributed to all teams that are entitled to them. But there is more: since the FIA is now certain of McLaren's fraudulent conduct, it has appointed a commission to study the design of the new car. If it is found to be copied by Ferrari, McLaren will also be sanctioned in December for 2008. Either with total exclusion from the World Championship (this time also the drivers) or with a new penalty in terms of points. The offended party is now less offended, but certainly would have liked a harsher sentence. Ferrari comments in the evening, in a statement following the Fia verdict in Paris:
"In light of the new evidence examined, facts and conduct of exceptional gravity and seriously prejudicial to the interest of the sport have been further substantiated".
Officially, the verdict is positive. But Ferrari would have preferred another one; it wanted to reopen the World Drivers' Championship. Now it simply signs this sentence:
"We are satisfied that the truth has emerged".
Satisfied with the truth that has emerged, the exceptionally serious facts and behaviour, precisely. Not with a ruling that is the result of acquittals and second thoughts, compromises: two months of hard-fought battles. And that in the end leaves McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso on top.
"Ferrari takes note of the FIA's decision to sanction Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for violation of Article 151 c of the International Sporting Code".
The Brits violated the rules of the sport, they claim at Ferrari: through unfaithful chief mechanic Nigel Stepney they took secrets from the racing department and used them on their cars. The tyres, the flap separators: on these details the information carved out was useful to Ron Dennis. Ferrari is convinced: from the breach of trade secrets, McLaren had a sporting advantage. And with lawyer Peter raised they raised their voice at the World Council to ensure that this conviction was followed by an appropriate penalty: they would have to take points away from the two drivers. But now, the battle over, the five lines of the official communiqué take note and express satisfaction with the truth that has emerged. It goes on, there is a World Championship still to be won. Ferrari's top brass, Jean Todt and Luca Montezemolo, all the way up to the Fiat world, would have liked another ending: $100.000.000 may annoy the enemies - McLaren is no longer a mere adversary - and then the constructors' title has an economic and ancilliary benefits that are anything but negligible, but for the second time in the face of an ascertained sports crime the Federation did not impose the consequent penalty. And the Ferrari drivers, already present at Spa, ready for practice, on the subject say little, preferring to bring the spy story back on the tracks of sport.
"It would not be the same to win by default".
Kimi Räikkönen had said before the verdict was known. And Felipe Massa, sitting in the conference alongside Fernando Alonso, had commented earlier in the afternoon:
"If they have done wrong they must pay".
The rest, at the paddock on the day of the ruling, had been an extraordinarily nervous Lewis Hamilton, ready to harshly refuse - an unprecedented one at that - an autograph to a pleading boy. The rest were the embarrassed silences of Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella:
"It's not stuff that concerns our team, no comment".
And the arrogant silence of Bmw boss Mario Theissen:
"I'm just not talking tonight".
And about the impact of the fine to the McLaren team, a former driver like Gerard Berger, who now owns half of Scuderia Toro Rosso, says:
"For them to pay that amount will not be a problem".
The judgment of McLaren team principal Ron Dennis comes through a press conference convened in Paris:
"We do not deserve to be penalised in this way, it is an unfair penalty".
But the disappointment is diluted by the knowledge that at least the season can continue and the drivers have not been sanctioned by the FIA.
"The most important thing is that we are going to race this weekend, the rest of the season and all the other seasons. This means that our drivers can continue to compete for the World Championship".
Ron Dennis recalled that drivers, engineers, and the entire staff clearly demonstrated that McLaren did not use any information that had not been obtained legitimately to gain a competitive advantage. Dennis especially emphasised one fact: the World Motor Sport Council received statements from Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Pedro de la Rosa, claiming that the drivers said that no information from Ferrari had been used by McLaren and that they had not passed on any confidential information to the team. The entire technical group of more than 140 people, then, told the FIA that they had never received or used information from Ferrari. In short, Dennis acknowledges that information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of his employees at his home. The question is, was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today. But then why on earth did Nigel Stepney and Mike Coughlan collect all that data from Ferrari?
"We know they were both looking for work with other teams, as both Honda and Toyota confirmed. We have the best drivers and the best car and we want to win the World Championship".
Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, is entrenched in a series of firm no comments.
"There was no reluctance or hesitation in using Ferrari information".
The reasons for the Federation’s ruling are precise, overwhelming. McLaren stole and used Ferrari secrets. Its first driver Fernando Alonso, a two-time World Champion, solicited data from his opponents, demanded it be quickly tested on his single-seater.
"In a number of McLaren men there was an intention to use confidential information from Ferrari sources".
The fifteen-page picture made public by the FIA chaired by Max Mosley is devastating for the world’s richest team, for the Spanish driver and for F1. One hundred million dollars in fines will not remove the stains from the 2007 World Championship, which quickly turned from the most beautiful of the last fifteen years into the most corrupt. In recalling the lies given away by McLaren staff during the first FIA hearing on July 26, 2007, the pages motivating Thursday night’s ruling explain how the McLaren team possessed unauthorised Ferrari documentation in the fields of design, engineering, construction, control, testing, development and racing. They had everything that matters to the opponents: photos, diagrams, texts, technical documents and reports about weight distribution, aerodynamics, individual components, suspensions, gearbox, hydraulics, design of water, oil and gasoline systems, assembly and construction technologies.
McLaren had the 2007 Ferrari car in hand and an idea of its future development. The substantial difference between the evidence in the hands of the FIA on July 26th and that in its availability at the World Council meeting on September 13, 2007, is all in the e-mails that Fernando Alonso himself, terrified of losing points, and test driver Pedro de La Rosa handed over to Max Mosley's men. What set the British team up, in particular, would have been the exchange of e-mails and messages between the Spanish driver and test driver Pedro de la Rosa. It seems that it was the latter who had the most contacts with Mike Coughlan, the former McLaren designer to whom Nigel Stepney handed over the dossier containing secret information about the Maranello single-seater.
"Emails show that both Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa had received information from Coughlan regarding Ferrari: both drivers knew that that information should have remained secret since it came from former Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney".
The emails, the grounds state, are those that the McLaren drivers made available to the FIA. There are no items in the file relating to Lewis Hamilton, who pleaded ignorance. Pedro de la Rosa and Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, knew. Their conversations are divided into five chapters, each relating to a topic: weight distribution, flexible wing and aerodynamics, tyre pressure, braking system and race strategy. In a 1:02 p.m. email on Sunday, March 25, 2007, the test driver reassures the World Champion:
"All the information from Ferrari is very reliable. It comes from Nigel Stepney, their former chief mechanic. I don't know what his role is now. He was the same person who told us in Australia that Kimi would stop on lap 18. He is on very good terms with Mike Coughlan, our chief designer. And he told him everything".
The material shows what the channel of information was. From Stepney to Coughlan and from the latter to the British team drivers. It was Pedro de la Rosa himself who asked Mike Coughlan for accurate data on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, at 9:57 a.m:
"Hi Mike. What do you know about the weight distribution of the red car? It would be important for us to know so we could try it in the simulator. Thanks in advance, Pedro".
Mike Coughlan responds by offering precise details of the weight distribution in Ferrari. Four days pass and Pedro de La Rosa from Malaysia warns Fernando Alonso, in the middle of the night (1:43 p.m., they have different time zones):
"The weight distribution gave Ferrari a 0.2-second lead in the Australian Grand Prix".
At 12:00 a.m. Fernando Alonso responds with a long message that reads:
"Their distribution surprises me. I don’t know if it is 100 percent feasible, but it deserves attention".
The World Champion asks those who test his car to continue spying. Half an hour and the tester reassures him:
"All the information is very credible. It comes from Nigel Stepney, their former chief mechanic. You know, he is the same person who told us in Australia that Kimi would stop on lap 18. He is very good friends with Mike Coughlan, he was the one who told him those things".
Alonso is aware of everything, including the strategies Kimi Räikkönen will use, and he does not have a doubt: it goes on.
He has to steal tenths of a second from Ferrari, no matter what. At the third race, in Bahrain, Nigel Stepney will offer McLaren new insights into the pit stops of the two Ferraris. Pedro de La Rosa tells Fernando Alonso:
"Same amount of gas in the tyres".
And Fernando Alonso responds to Pedro de La Rosa:
"We have to try the gas in the tyres right away".
FIA reasons dismantle the lies told by Pedro de La Rosa in the first World Council meeting and detail the confidential information he received. In the same emails exchanged on Sunday, March 25, 2007, the tester writes to Fernando Alonso:
"The rear wings are a copy of the system we think Ferrari uses".
FIA clarifies:
"Ferrari’s aerodynamic balance, at 250 kph, has been identified".
In the overnight email, the tester reveals that he also identified the secret gas that is used in the Ferrari pit to inflate the tyres by reducing the internal temperature:
"We have to try it out, it’s easy".
When he wakes up, Fernando Alonso is on fire:
"It’s very important to try it, they have something different from everyone else. It could be the key. Hopefully it becomes our priority".
The FIA writes:
"They are excited to try the gas and explore the possibility with a Bridgestone engineer".
Then, on Thursday, April 12, 2007, Pedro de La Rosa asks Mike Coughlan:
"Can you explain as much as you can about the Ferrari brakes? Is it true that they can adjust them from the cockpit?"
Two days later, punctually, Mike Coughlan explains:
"We are looking for a similar one".
The FIA writes:
"McLaren's system was built knowing Ferrari's".
The benefits are immediate, on the 2007 season. Thanks to information from the Italian police (three annexes explain how Stepney-Coughlan between March 11 and July 3, 2007 exchanged 288 text messages and 35 phone calls), the FIA deduces that the illegal information exchanges were not limited to the 780 pages known so far, and the number of contacts increased considerably during the private tests done by Ferrari in Malaysia and close to the first four races. There was a systematic flow of confidential information. The federation’s reasons dismantle the defenses of Ron Dennis, his collaborators Neale and Lowe:
"Coughlan shared information with the McLaren drivers. Coughlan could not have done so without informing his superiors. It is not necessary to have copied an entire Ferrari to have benefited from Coughlan’s knowledge. Coughlan, chief designer, was in a position to change the technological challenges on the McLaren. McLaren gained some degrees of sporting advantage, a significant sporting advantage, but it will always be impossible to quantify how much".
The FIA is also releasing all the documentation related to the e-mail exchange between Mike Coughlan and Nigel Stepney. Some date back to the period after Italian police discovered the dossier found inside the McLaren designer’s home. The Federation writes:
"Italian police brought the text of twenty-three e-mails exchanged between Coughlan and Stepney during the period from March 1 to April 14, 2007".
In addition, there were allegedly another 288 text messages and nearly 35 phone calls between the two during the period from March 11 to July 3, 2007.
"In light of the numerous communications (phone calls, e-mails, and text messages) exchanged between Coughlan, Stepney, and the two McLaren drivers, the FIA World Council finds it reasonable to believe that Coughlan was in possession of a substantial amount of confidential Ferrari information from Stepney and that at least some of this information was communicated to other people within the McLaren team".
The British newspapers are already talking about McLaren bankruptcy, because after the $100.000.000 fine and the loss of the title in the 2007 World Constructors’ Championship standings, a sponsor alarm is being sounded for McLaren-Mercedes: a Vodafone spokesman reports to the British Times newspaper that he wants to talk to the team to get a clear picture of the future. The consequences, should the contract with the mobile phone giant be cancelled, could be disastrous given that Vodafone pays about 150.000.000 euros to sponsor the single-seaters driven by Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. In addition to Vodafone, it appears that whisky manufacturer Johnnie Walker brand and Spanish banking institution Santander also want to recalibrate their relationship with the Woking team. Even Tag Heuer seems intent on reducing the budget reserved for McLaren. Meanwhile, free practice for the Belgian Grand Prix takes place on Friday, September 14, 2007.
"From yesterday to today nothing has changed for me".
Claims Fernando Alonso, who was the fastest in free practice for the Belgian Grand Prix. But it is hard to believe him. He no longer has a relationship with his team (to which he is linked until 2009), and is looking to settle at Renault.
He does not make a great impression with the Formula 1 circus, since he has confessed to a sporting offence. Regardless, he lapped better than Lewis Hamilton. And the World Drivers’ Championship standings give him hope. Whether it is fair or not is another matter. At the official level, complete with press releases, Ferrari continues to call itself satisfied with the Paris verdict, so much so that it will not appeal. They wanted the truth to come out, they had been hoping for it for months, from president Luca Montezemolo on down to everyone in Maranello is convinced that the goal has been achieved. No matter if the Drivers’ title does not also come, something Ferrari, beyond the phrases of circumstance, was aiming at; the Constructors’ World Championship and the certainty that the new McLaren in 2008 will not be a copy of the Maranello car are already sufficient compensation for the serious wrong suffered. Rivals have been unmasked, the image of Ron Dennis’s group has been seriously compromised, now everyone knows that his dominance was the child of fraudulent conduct; Ferrari are happy with this and make good on it. Even at Spa, where the Formula 1 world has moved after the Paris invasion, the message from the men of the Maranello team (among whom Ross Brawn, who was present in Paris as a technical advisor in support of the prosecution, may soon appear again) admits of no doubt. In looks and words, even those in closed notebooks, there is no room for anger and bitterness; they note with satisfaction the FIA ruling and look ahead. But the reality is different; this is not it, this cannot be it, even in light of the reports made public by the FIA, with the serious charges against McLaren. Ferrari was right, it was indeed cheated, Fernando Alonso cooperated with the FIA, repented, allowed his team to be nailed, but he should have been punished too, just as it is not right that Lewis Hamilton got away with it. This is the real thought, for now kept silent pending more in-depth reflections (Ferrari has announced that it will comment in detail on this matter in the coming days), of the top management in Maranello and it is the opinion, already clearly expressed, of Felipe Massa, a driver who does not accept the decision in Paris and feels strongly penalised.
"It is the first time that the FIA punishes a team and not its drivers, that it separates the two positions, and the thing frankly seems absurd to me. If you have an engine with more power, you go faster, the qualities of the car are necessarily reflected in a driver’s performance. If they did wrong, if it was right to punish them, the whole team had to pay. I’m especially referring to the Alonso case: the reports seem pretty telling to me, how do you absolve him? I don’t understand why he was not punished, since he knew all those things".
Felipe Massa (who has also had serious disagreements with the Spaniard this year on track, in Barcelona and at the Nurburgring) is also quite critical of the entire McLaren team.
“Some people believe, by not respecting the rules, that they are smarter or more clever but this is deeply unfair. Fortunately, there is a justice that can defend the sport. They knew everything about us, our way of working, our strategies, our secrets, looking at the files; it’s disconcerting , our efforts were useless. The evidence was overwhelming, and the drivers were part of the team. They had advantages and they will keep them”.
Consideration that allows for a bitter epilogue:
"I will continue to fight in these four races for the World Championship, but now the situation at the driver level is quite complicated, the ruling in Paris did not help us".
Even four one-two wins out of as many races may not be enough. Felipe Massa, who went off track on Friday morning and was forced to watch from the pits for the entire hour-and-a-half session, but fought back in the afternoon with a third-place finish 0.3 seconds behind Fernando Alonso, will do everything he can to win here in Belgium.
"I went off track through my own fault, I had cold tyres and brakes, I pushed too hard on the first lap. But in the afternoon the car was fast right away, I’m satisfied, we just have to improve in the fast corners. McLaren is ahead, but we can challenge them".
Conviction that is also in Kimi Räikkönen’s head. When it comes to the spy story, he does not fall into temptation. His dry answer is:
“No comment”.
As far as the race is concerned, on the other hand, he is confident. However, he is not well, he has not recovered from the Monza accident, he continues to have neck pain and may race with special support. Surrounded, separated at home, under fire. And again: delinquent, repentant, FIA collaborator, object of desire, driver in the running for the World Championship. A thousand definitions you can choose from, so much for the Fernando Alonso of these days they all fit. At Spa, in light also of the files released by the FIA, it is mostly about him, his relationship with McLaren, his gross misconduct against Ferrari, his eagerness to become World Champion anyway. Someone else, with less experience or less courage, would feel uncomfortable; he does not. Alonso, at least on the surface, has his usual easygoing gaze, his usual eagerness to joke with his friend Fabrizio, his trusted physiotherapist, the traditional calm of someone who feels he is the best on the track (he was at the end of the second session) and an all-in-one person off it too.
"A man of little morality? Me? That is what you think".
He lets those who insinuate know, because he chose not to talk about the spy story and directly cannot answer that question.
“I just did what I had to do. The FIA asked me questions, it is the governing body of my sport, I had to answer them. To cooperate was my duty”.
He does not say, however, that he had known about Ferrari for some time and that before the storm broke he had never dreamed of revealing it to the FIA. He does not say that those secrets helped him, but that is now part of the past anyway, albeit a recent one, since with the pact made with Max Mosley, in exchange for his decisive testimony, he guaranteed himself immunity and a chance to win a third consecutive world title. The question is how much his image is tarnished by the affair. Opinions are divided. There are those like Flavio Briatore, here is the Alonso object of desire, who are ready to defend him:
"Drivers have always done what they want, they just want to win. So I’m not surprised that for a long time he kept quiet. But then he behaved correctly: the FIA called him to testify and he told them everything".
Sinking McLaren, the team that pays him, hence the estranged Alonso, on a collision course now not only with Hamilton, but with the entire team. He shrugs:
"I’m only focused on the race, I’m racing for the World Championship, I can’t afford to make mistakes".
But he knows very well, despite the fact that so far at the tactical level he has performed great, that his delusion puts him at risk of a boycott in favour of the faithful Hamilton. Alonso realises this, but he will try to be stronger even than this. Then, at the end of the season, he will decide where to go, because by now his stay at McLaren seems impossible. Briatore waits:
"Fernando has a contract, let’s wait and see what can happen".
And Ferrari? The team reiterates: Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen will be our drivers in 2008. A few minutes earlier Fernando Alonso had delivered yet another message:
"The right time to contact a red car? Not yet".
Which translated means: tomorrow might be. It would be a fall on his feet, other than making fun of his skills at the simulator after the defeat in Australia and before the triumph in Malaysia. It was said then, late March: what a worker, he went back to Europe and at the simulator recovered the second he had in disadvantage over Ferrari. True. But would the same have happened even without the e-mails from Nigel Stepney, Mike Coughlan and Pedro de la Rosa? Not only that, Fernando Alonso was furious after being relegated five places on the grid on Saturday night in Budapest. From pole position to the third row, a blow, on a circuit where overtaking is impossible. Now, a month and a half later, he finds he has also earned a blackmailer’s license. Fernando Alonso is more and more in the thick of it, it is amazing how he manages to keep his concentration, to go fast on track, as he ends up in someone’s crosshairs every day. The blackmail was committed on Sunday morning in Hungary, McLaren team principal Ron Dennis revealed:
"Either you establish once and for all that I am number one, or I go to the FIA and blow the whistle".
The Spanish driver allegedly said at the height of a heated argument, because Lewis Hamilton had gone from second on the grid to first, once again he had taken advantage of a situation, because he had been rewarded by the judges on a day when McLaren had been mortified, because in short the Spaniard had had a tough time of it, while for the rookie everything always went smoothly. The enraged Alonso is reported to have said:
"Now I’m fed up".
He would have, because Ron Dennis told and then corrected the story, while the Spaniard’s entourage adamantly denies it. He does not do it himself, because on everything related to the spy story he has decided to keep quiet. Dennis accuses you of threatening him?
"No comment".
Do you realise that with your testimony you caused the loss of the World Constructors’ Championship?
"No comment".
Do you realize that by bringing those e-mails with De La Rosa to light, you caused your team to receive a $100.000.000 fine?
"No comment".
His defense, on every thorny issue, is always the same. Even when, this is the case with Max Mosley, he is praised for cooperating with the Federation, for helping to solve the case.
"Is the FIA ready to protect me should McLaren intend to boycott me? There is no need. I have no fear, no concern. I am satisfied with how the team treats me, nothing has changed, I am convinced that I can play my chances, win another World Championship".
To be fair, in June, between the Canadian and U.S. Grand Prix, the Spaniard had confessed to feeling uncomfortable, in a British team that dotes on an English driver, but by now Alonso has become accustomed to sudden changes of course and mood. On Friday they were accusing him of everything and he was smiling; on Saturday, when they reported Max Mosley’s protective phrases to him, half an hour before qualifying began, he got pale and some assured that he entered the car rather nervous. A sign that, beyond the phrases, he fears something and that Mosley’s message could also be interpreted as the political chief’s encouragement towards an initiative that is already known, or that at least Mosley strongly suspects. On the other hand, if McLaren opposed him, it would not be surprising. He has spoken and nailed the team, so he cannot expect gratitude. Yet, incredibly, he says:
"I have a contract for two more years, you’ve been asking me for months if this is my last race with them, my last season, talking about broken relationships with the team. Nothing is true: the only thing that is certain is that I am tied to them and I could very well stay here".
Difficult hypothesis, but now everything and its opposite is true. Maybe Alonso is right when he states:
"Someone should thank me, because I saved the World Drivers’ Championship. Yes, even Dennis. And Hamilton too: the immunity thing certainly didn’t hurt him".
He will end up demanding a monument as well. Certainly compliments are never given for how he performs on the track. Finished in the gravel almost as the last round finished, he had one try and snatched third place.
"So much stress, I took a risk, I couldn’t make a mistake".
But there he is, on the second row. Ready for a new definition: winner of the Belgian Grand Prix. The one he likes best. In the meantime, Ron Dennis’ last stone had been thrown at Renault. There was already talk at Monza of the new Formula 1 scandal, but in Spa the details emerged. Former McLaren engineer Phil Makereth left the Woking team to join Renault. In recent weeks, it has been discovered that the engineer allegedly brought with him three disks of confidential information on twenty McLaren details, and attempted to enter them into Renault’s computer system. Flavio Briatore, who has always prided himself on the defensive qualities of his team’s computers, was reportedly quickly alerted to the intrusion and reported it to the FIA. At first Ron Dennis had accused him of applying his own methods on Renault since no investigation was opened. Flavio Briatore said:
"Stepney and Coughlan must be removed from F1 immediately".
And Mario Theissen, technical director of Bmw, adds:
"Criminal designs can blow away any defence".
Saturday, September 15, 2007, the usual drivers were eliminated in the first qualifying session - Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto went out in the Spykers along with Takuma Satō and Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguris, Rubens Barrichello in the Honda and Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso.
The second qualifying session was unusual as six drivers in six different cars were eliminated - Alexander Wurz with Williams, Vitantonio Liuzzi with Toro Rosso, Jenson Button with Honda, David Coulthard with Red Bull Racing. Giancarlo Fisichella with Renault and Ralf Schumacher with Toyota. Fisichella was later relegated right to the back of the grid after changing his engine after qualifying. This left seven different teams in the top 10. Heikki Kovalainen qualified tenth for Renault, just behind Jarno Trulli in the Toyota. Ahead of them were Mark Webber’s Red Bull and Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber. Nico Rosberg did very well in the Williams to qualify on the third row alongside Robert Kubica in the second BMW Sauber. However, the Pole was given a ten place grid penalty for an engine change. Once again, McLaren and Ferrari occupied the top four places. Fernando Alonso beat McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton to 3rd place, but Ferrari dominated, with Kimi Räikkönen beating Felipe Massa to get his 14th career pole and lock out the front row for the Italian team. Due to FIA rules about the order in which penalties are applied, Kubica’s penalty was applied first. This left him 15th and behind Fisichella. Then the Italian’s penalty was applied, so Kubica ended up 14th. This meant Coulthard, Button and Liuzzi all gained two places as both drivers had been ahead of them. The ruling in Paris left the World Drivers’ Championship standings unchanged, and now it is up to Ferrari to close the gap to McLaren on track. The omens are good, because at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa circuit, the front row will be all red. Kimi Räikkönen is in pole position, ahead of Felipe Massa. The two McLarens are on the second row, with Fernando Alonso ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Fifth place for Poland’s Robert Kubica in a BMW, but he will start from 15th position due to having replaced his engine. Nico Rosberg in his Williams is sixth, ahead of Nick Heidfeld’s Bmw, which in turn precedes Mark Webber’s Red Bull Racing. On the fifth row are Jarno Trulli, in a Toyota, and Heikki Kovalainen, in a Renault. Kimi Räikkönen, despite taking first place, does not promote his F2007 with flying colours:
"The car is still not right. We still have some problems with the rear end".
The Finn mixes optimism and realism:
"Compared to Monza, the situation has improved. This track is smooth, it is similar to Istanbul. We knew we would do well, but the race will still be difficult".
Felipe Massa makes no secret of his regrets for a pole position that slipped away by just 0.017 seconds:
"I locked the tyres at the last chicane. There I probably lost the first position. Until the last corner I was very happy with my performance, maybe I was too enthusiastic".
Fernando Alonso had tyre problems as he spun in the last heat of qualifying. He is therefore satisfied with third position:
"The first set of tyres left me stranded, so I only had one opportunity to try to get pole position. I had some luck on the one lap I did".
Lewis Hamilton is half satisfied:
"It wasn’t bad. Of course we would always like to start on pole, but the second row is not bad either. We did a good job, but the Ferraris did better. Tomorrow I will race against everyone: against Ferrari, but also against Alonso, because I want to win the World Championship".
A blink of an eye, but enough. Seventeen thousandths over Felipe Massa, ninety-seven thousandths over Fernando Alonso, a matter of centimetres, but those are what keep Kimi Räikkönen’s hopes alive. The Finn is on pole position at a track he loves, the fascinating Spa, where he has triumphed in the last two editions of the race.
He came out on top by a whisker at the end of a thrilling battle, while Felipe Massa lost precious hundredths with a hesitation at the last corner, and Fernando Alonso ended up in the gravel four and a half minutes from the chequered flag, ruined his tyres, came back to the pits, restarted, and in the end with only one lap to go missed pole position by less than a tenth of a second. Only Lewis Hamilton is distant, the other rivals hounded him, but this time Kimi Räikkönen, although suffering from neck pain, was perfect, the best. Not enough to let go.
"Hard to say if this was my best qualifying of the year, it’s always complicated to compare different tracks and places. I certainly didn’t have any problems this time. In fact, to tell the truth at one point I was a bit scared, I felt something wrong in the rear, but I still pushed hard and managed to get the pole position".
A result that allows him to still believe in the title. Should he win, he would reduce his disadvantage over Lewis Hamilton (18 points) and Fernando Alonso (15 points) and remain in the race.
"Anything can happen in the race, but we know we have a very high and consistent pace, better than McLaren’s. We knew we would have difficulties in Monza, but here the situation should be similar to Turkey, where we won easily".
His most dangerous opponent is Felipe Massa, his teammate. Ferrari has never favoured a driver this year, it has chosen to let them run as equals: today for the first time, since Kimi Räikkönen has five points more than the Brazilian, it may decide to change its philosophy. At least in words, however, Massa does not seem intent on stepping aside. Here the first corner is at great risk, an excessive tussle at the start could lead to serious trouble, the Brazilian takes the start next to Räikkönen and could protect him. An idea on which Felipe Massa deflects.
"I only think about winning the race, the rest doesn’t interest me".
Translated, that means: do not think about team orders, do not ask me for help or protection, I am going to do my race and go my way. Although this may entail the danger of a disappointed Ferrari, on the Sunday of the triumph in the World Constructors’ Championship (it is enough not to lose more than three points from Bmw), but of last resort in the Drivers’ championship. The own goal would be resounding, but since Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton will also start side-by-side, on the second row, Ferrari is entitled to hope for the opposite scenario: the two McLaren foes taking each other out and the men in red taking home a full load of points. For certain, there is Felipe Massa, who is sorry he missed pole position:
"My lap was perfect, just a pity for a smear in the last corner. I locked the wheels a bit and threw away a few hundredths which turned out to be fatal".
Yes, when you lose by 0.017 seconds, any hesitation is of decisive value. It could have been worse for the Brazilian, though, after the thrills of round one. He was not coming out of the pits, and he risked a resounding exit.
"I wanted to throw myself on the track, but the mechanics had some doubts about the set-up of the car. Once you come out of the garage, you can’t change it, so we hesitated. Then we said, it’s do or die".
It did, because second place still gives him a chance to win. If only Giancarlo Fisichella could have it. He will change the Renault engine and start last. His season is coming to a disastrous end. And without confirmation from Flavio Briatore.
On Sunday, September 16, 2007, the order from the start remained fairly unchanged with the Ferraris of Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa led away from Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, although there was a lot of pushing between the McLarens as Hamilton attempted to pass around the outside of turn one, but Alonso pushed him wide onto the tarmac on the outside of the corner. Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault suffered a suspension failure on lap 2, making him the first retirement of the race. He had been running last. Also on lap 2, Alexander Wurz spun into the Williams, slipping to the back of the field. Sebastian Vettel soon suffered a handling problem, probably caused by a collision, which eliminated his Toro Rosso from the race on lap 9. Massa briefly took the lead on lap 16, but Räikkönen reclaimed it a lap later after his pitstop. David Coulthard suffered a hydraulic failure in his Red Bull on lap 30. It was quickly followed by a fuel pressure problem for Wurz, who was still last, on lap 35, and the Honda of Jenson Button, which dropped out on lap 37 with another hydraulic failure. Massa once again led for just one lap during Räikkönen’s second stop, but he retook it the following lap. Räikkönen finally came home to win from Massa, clinching the World Constructors Championship for Ferrari. Alonso, Hamilton, Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber, Nico Rosberg’s Williams, Mark Webber in the Red Bull and Heikki Kovalainen’s Renault rounded up the top eight. The only changes from the starting top eight were Heidfeld and Rosberg swapping places and Kovalainen passing Jarno Trulli’s Toyota to take eighth. The race was overshadowed by the death of former World Rally Champion Colin McRae in a helicopter crash during Saturday’s qualifying. It must be a major triumph if he even indulges in an out-of-control dart this time.
A gesture of jubilation, all instinct, a pirouette with his car, a deliberate spin before returning to the pits, to the delight of the crowd and his team’s men. Yes, this time Kimi Räikkönen is letting himself go, because he got what he wanted, triumphed for the third consecutive time in the Belgian Grand Prix, became the new king of Spa taking the throne that was Michael Schumacher’s, remained clinging to the hope of being able to win the Drivers’ World Championship, reducing his gap to Lewis Hamilton (now 13 points) and Fernando Alonso (ahead by 11 points). Of course, the situation remains difficult, the Finn can make no more mistakes, he has to win the three remaining races, the hostile Japanese Grand Prix, a novelty for everyone, and the more favourable Grands Prix in China and Brazil, he is obliged to be perfect, while the two rivals, the enemies at each other’s throats in McLaren, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, can also indulge in some other points finishes, but the signal coming from Belgium is certainly encouraging. It is like a dream, because Ferrari was perfect, as it was three weeks ago in Turkey and not as it was on Sunday, September 9, 2007, in Monza, when it lost and disappointed. At Spa, the two Maranello cars, because Felipe Massa was also flawless and brought a valuable second place to the cause, dominated, taking charge of the race at the start, holding it tight at the first corner, where the tussle only scalded Lewis Hamilton, and letting go only at the finish line. Kimi Räikkönen won, pulling away from everyone from the start, running away and making no mistakes, including two pit stops. Felipe Massa was a worthy teammate, closing the trajectory to Fernando Alonso’s initial overtaking attempt, always staying in the leader’s slipstream and at a safe distance from the two McLarens, lost in their quarrels and with a car less competitive than usual. An irreproachable behaviour, that of the two Ferrari drivers, which at the end of the race makes Sergio Marchionne, the Fiat CEO, say:
"As fans we must be proud of our two drivers, they are the best around, just as Italians we must be proud of the team. The verdict in Paris does justice, this Constructors’ world title is legitimate and deserved. An award to our fairness".
Because at Spa, immersed in Ferrari’s one-two punch, there is the officialdom of winning the Constructors’ World Championship, the fifteenth in the history of the Maranello team. There is no celebration in the pits, the remnants of the spy story, the stress and the poisons for this sordid affair have shocked everyone a bit, it would not be appropriate to revel, but the triumph is now in the trophy cabinet and no one will be able to take it away from the men of the Maranello team, unless a possible appeal by McLaren causes yet another twist, one of the many somersaults to which the FIA, with its judges, has become accustomed in these heated months.
Judging from the evidence against the British team, such a risk for Ferrari seems impossible. But to the men of the Maranello team, accustomed to fighting all the time, this laurel is not enough; there is still a small hope of getting to the Drivers’ World Championship victory, and Ferrari wants to play it out to the end. One advantage could come from the now bloody rivalry that exists between Hamilton and Alonso. In the very boring race, no overtaking is worth mentioning. The only jolt was given by the two of them, poisoned at the first corner, with Fernando Alonso who, in order to avoid contact with Felipe Massa’s car, widens his trajectory, defends third place with his teeth, and with Lewis Hamilton who is forced to encroach on the escape route, with some damage to the balance of his own car and his tyres. Coming out of the fight furious is the Englishman himself, no longer as mellow in tone as he was at the start of the season. From that moment on he has had to be cautious, to avoid punctures, something that will eventually get him very far from Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa, but also from his enemy Fernando Alonso. The two continue to snipe at each other, now with the Constructors’ title no longer at stake (McLaren will remain at zero until the end of the season) the battle is bound to become even more heated, as they now have to answer only to themselves and not to the team. Here is the opportunity Kimi Räikkönen can take advantage of, win and hope for an accident between the two rivals. It will be complicated in Japan, it is a circuit more suited to McLaren, easier in China and Brazil. But Ferrari must also be clear: nice to have two equal drivers, but now Kimi Räikkönen is the only one who can win the World Championship. He needs to be helped. Unless Ron Dennis scores an own goal: with an appeal against the Paris ruling (he has until Thursday to decide) that sinks his drivers. And leave the fight open only to the two Ferrari drivers. Kimi, why do you always win here in Belgium?
"It is a beautiful track, which I like very much. It was my favourite before I even started racing, my successes have nothing to do with it. It is very technical, selective. I enjoy driving here".
So triumphing here is more fun?
"Winning is nice anywhere. I like it in Belgium, but if it were up to me I would be first everywhere. I have no preference on where to triumph".
This time, however, you celebrated in a special way. A deliberate spin, as motorcyclists do.
"A stupid thing. I made a mistake. I was too far off, there was no more room to enter the pit lane, that was the easy way. Nothing special".
However, that takes all the poetry out of that unusual momentum for you.
"I acted on instinct, but other things take the priority".
Which things?
"Being able to stay in the running for the World Championship. We are not giving up, we are still in the hunt, anything can happen. The fight will be close until the last race".
Thirteen points from Hamilton and 11 from Alonso, however, remain a huge gap.
"We can only win the three remaining races and hope that something goes wrong for them. In Formula 1 there are also retirements, maybe it can happen. If Alonso or Hamilton stop once, everything comes back into play. If we make it, great, otherwise the satisfaction of having tried will remain".
On Saturday you feared your car might have some problems.
"Instead, it was perfect. I could hear a noise on the rear, maybe it was just in my head. In the race I felt nothing, an amazing car, from start to finish. No difficulties, a wonderful day for the team".
How is your neck?
"It’s fine. It’s still not at its best, but it doesn’t bother me at all, and that’s the most important thing. Now I have two weeks to heal permanently".
The next race in Japan will also be a last resort.
"By now we are doomed to this, but I’m not worried. From what I’ve heard the Fuji circuit may not suit the characteristics of our car well, we may find some difficulties, unlike China and Brazil, but I’m not afraid. No one has ever raced on that track, it’s a question mark for everyone, a big gamble".
An easy victory but did you fear at any point?
"When I was lapping other cars. When we are in slipstream, we lose downforce and grip on the ground. The tyres suffer; it’s never pleasant. But it’s minor stuff".
Do you expect help from Felipe Massa?
"Why? Isn’t he also fighting for the World Championship?"
If the title goes to a McLaren driver, how much will the difficulties suffered in Monte-Carlo, Montreal and Monza have weighed?
"Over the course of a season you can’t do well everywhere. Next year we will try to have a car that is good on those tracks as well".
Ferrari won the World Constructors’ Championship. Sensations?
"It’s good for the team. And also for us drivers. Now we can only focus on one front. Push hard in the fight against Hamilton and Alonso. We have taken a good step forward for the world title. It’s not over. We must not give up”.
Luca Montezemolo, after the Belgian Grand Prix, adds:
"It is a victory of perfection, for which I want to thank Räikkönen, Massa, Todt and all his men. I dedicate the Constructors’ world championship to our fans, who believe in the values of sport, and to that English gentleman who wanted to inform us in June that someone, linked to an opposing team, went to his store and gave him to photocopy dozens and dozens of pages with technical information about our car".
He walks in the paddock with the gait of a winner. He is a man of class and long memory, Max Rufus Mosley, 67. He is a vindictive man, capable of debunking his enemy Ron Dennis in four languages (including Italian). The Federation president, this time, has found the tools to take down the enemy. And he attacks:
"Ron Dennis is a liar, he said dishonest things. The McLaren boss told me an empty truth and he did it by looking me in the eye: Look Max, I don’t know anything about e-mails and spying, I don’t have anything in my hands. I believed him, I’ve known him for forty years, I had to believe him. Instead those were lies, lies, lies. Three hundred emails traced by the police and the phrases about Ferrari secrets to be passed on to the McLaren team: is that nothing to Dennis?"
Mr. Mosley, you wanted the Paris ruling: $100.000.000 fine to McLaren and no Constructors’ title.
"The majority of the World Council wanted it; I had a tougher position. In my opinion McLaren should been excluded from the 2007 World Championship, maybe even out of 2008. Let’s say we would see each other again in 2009. In the end, the ruling in Paris imparts a modest, very modest punishment".
One hundred million dollars is the world record for fines.
"It is less than the difference between McLaren’s budget and that of many other teams, including Williams and Renault. Less than that the penalty would have no effect. When history recounts this spying affair it should be remembered that too little was done. McLaren was lucky: it polluted this World Championship and perhaps the 2008 World Championship as well".
You were in the British pit box shaking hands with Fernando Alonso. Perhaps you had forgotten that he had asked to steal secrets from Ferrari, blackmailed his team, and finally sunk it.
"Without Alonso there would have been no truth. He is the only one in McLaren who did the right thing. He didn't absorb the culture of that team. We only had the communications provided to us by the Italian police, Alonso gave us the emails and the truth came out. He gave them to the FIA, not Ron Dennis".
But did the British team really benefit from that information?
"The flaps copied on the track are worth several hundredths of a second less, the tyres at temperature just as much. Component by component, you eventually gain two tenths of a second per lap. That's how you win races. And now who explains to Massa and Räikkönen that their rivals are taking the World Championship thanks to an illegitimate advantage?"
Too bad that Fernando Alonso, after having twenty percent of the budget taken away from his team, will no longer be able to win the 2007 F1 World Championship.
"If McLaren does something wrong against Alonso they will have to come to Paris immediately to answer for it. And at that point we will do something to them".
Will you ask Ron Dennis to step aside for the good of F1?
"Dennis will never leave, he cannot live without Formula 1".
Are there any other investigations going on at the FIA?
"We have received papers from Renault, Briatore reports the intrusion of a former McLaren engineer into its computer system. And then we will evaluate Ron Dennis’ complaint against Ferrari. He claims they listened to their pit conversations from 2002 to 2006, we’ll see".
What will you do now with that $100.000.000?
"The FIA will help young drivers grow".
Will McLaren appeal, Mr. Mosley?
"If they appeal they will also lose the World Drivers’ Championship".
Meanwhile, Jean Todt is furious and responds to Ron Dennis:
"This story of skeletons in Ferrari’s closet has me fed up. Our rival in his defense, reinforced by threats and blackmail, repeats it often, the time has come to clarify it once and for all. True, I admit that we periodically listen to the conversations of rival teams, the dialogue between a car and the pits, but others do the same with us, it is a common practice in today’s Formula 1. They included Räikkönen in their defence in Paris, in written testimony he admitted that Ferrari listens to others, they did it from 2002 to 2006 as Dennis says, but McLaren with him behind the wheel also behaved the same way. Our lawyers asked a senior member of our rival team to confirm this and he responded positively. If this is a skeleton in the closet, either everyone has it or no one has it".
He adds:
"We respect the Paris verdict, but given the evidence against McLaren we think it is too mild. Dennis says he will not appeal in the interest of the sport? I think in the interest of the sport he should have informed us that one of our employees was providing all that information to them. There has been a lot of talk about the 780 pages passed from Stepney to Coughlan, but there is another thread here that is not insignificant. Even before they had spies, they have known everything about us since the beginning of the season. Unacceptable".
Jean Todt is so convinced of the seriousness of McLaren’s behaviour that he would like Dennis to appeal.
"I hope he does, I am convinced that McLaren’s situation would be further aggravated".
In his mind is the World Drivers’ Championship. So much so that on future team orders he points out:
"How can I give any if Massa is only seven points away from Räikkönen? If there was an appeal and the FIA decided to penalise Alonso and Hamilton, our two drivers would both be in the running. Ferrari’s interest always comes first, team and then drivers, but right now the picture is not clear. If there is going to be an appeal, I hope it will be discussed before the Japanese Grand Prix".
The four days that rocked Formula 1 began on a sidewalk in Place de la Concorde and ended inside the Ferrari box at Spa-Francorchamps, with mechanics drinking champagne uncorked by Kimi Räikkönen. The glasses were handed out by Francesco Uguzzoni, chief mechanic on the force, the one without whom this scandal would not have emerged. It was Uguzzoni, who had recently replaced Nigel Stepney as track mechanics coordinator, who became suspicious of too many questions from the Englishman during testing in Malaysia in late March. Nigel was sending emails from Maranello and, as head of performance analysis for the racing team - Jean Todt, who trusted Stepney, had put him there - he was asking for information, settings, times. The Italian chief mechanic reported to his superiors, and so began the checks on the man who would pass secrets to McLaren, throw dust into the tanks of the F2007. The three months all crashed down at once on these last four days, motorsports experienced them between Paris and the Ardennes. Sixteen McLaren men against nine Ferrari men at the trial. Lewis Hamilton in suit and tie before the FIA Council and three hours later in red and silver overalls in Belgium:
"Now I feel more connected to the team and the fate of the team is closer to my heart".
Pedro de La Rosa, the go-between between Fernando Alonso and Mike Coughlan, defends himself by shouting at the questions from lawyer Peter. In this strange sports trial that is held twice in the same degree, judges and accused go to the buffet together. In this strange trial, the chairman of the referee body, the FIA, wants to sting McLaren because it is fair, but also because this is a chance to take down the hated Ron Dennis. One of the twenty-six judges, then, is the man who invented Formula 1: Bernie Ecclestone. And the first defender of Ferrari, who is really the offended party here, is Luigi Macaluso, president of the Automobile Club's sports commission, who is a watchmaker by trade and from Ferrari obtained the trademark to reproduce the prancing horse on the objects he sells. The other defender of the Italian team, Mario Piccinini, the bishop, will sooner or later replace Max Mosley as president of the FIA. Here, the conditions are not for a serious trial and yet this time the (almost) ten-hour hearing produces a serious statement of facts. Mosley would like fair punishment for those who cheated - McLaren out of the World Championship for two years - but on that World Council also sits Bernie Ecclestone, who puts the brakes on everything. All he has to do is stand up and it becomes clear that McLaren, terrified, will not get away with it. The FIA collects $100.000.000 to be paid within three months, the protagonists start the all-out fight. For the first time in the paddock one can hate each other without repressing. Says Max Mosley:
"Dennis, you are a liar and a crook".
But what will happen now? Probably not much. In this closed and very rich world where one is in charge for decades, Ferrari spa will not change the safety protocols at Maranello, and it will not change drivers. Perhaps it will bring back to the factory the engineer who made it great, that Ross Brawn whom Nigel Stepney tried to pull in but ultimately testified in Ferrari’s favour. McLaren? It is dazed and divided, but nothing is likely to change there either. Lewis Hamilton seems born to spend an entire career in Woking. Fernando Alonso has no real alternatives: Renault and Bmw are too far behind to accommodate such a strong driver. Ron Dennis, then? The architect of espionage? He wrinkles his mouth and lets it be known:
"My head is in the balance, you all want it, but I’m not leaving. I just want to put this behind me forever".
It has become a daily war: Fernando versus Lewis. And at Spa, the shoulder bump at the first corner of the Belgian Grand Prix offered new topics to the Alonso-Hamilton clash. The Spaniard, who in the paddock seems to carry the full weight of his loneliness on his shoulders only to drop the ballast of accusations (spy, blackmailer, company sinker) to the ground as soon as he tightens his helmet, in the first corner of the rusty Spa-Francorchamps pushed Lewis Hamilton, an unwelcome teammate, into the dirt. A mimed shove, an attempted shove, because the McLarens did not touch. But enough to raise dust and debate and cause an:
"Oh".
Of apprehension to widen on the mouth of Ron Dennis, dumbfounded at the pit wall. It is well known that towards Lewis Hamilton, McLaren’s team principal Ron Dennis has an attention that resembles adoption. The rest of the race of the two red-silvered drivers was panoramic since, as Alonso told:
"Today the Ferraris were too fast for us".
But Alonso, third at the end, was perfect at the tyre change and fuel top-up (a team that wants to boycott him would not let him make the team’s fastest pit stops). In contrast, Lewis Hamilton, fourth, 23 seconds behind Kimi Räikkönen, appeared slow and seriously nervous. For the Anglo-Caribbean after the close contact came two more off-track errors: on lap 14 and the penultimate lap.
"This week was much harder for me than for my teammate and at the end I am still the leader with a two-point lead".
With the helmet off, however, the argument begins. Hamilton complains:
"I’m fed up, I had made a good start and could have moved up positions. Alonso pushed me out. He talks so much about loyalty, complaining about others, and then he’s the one doing these things. All fair, but too hard. I was lucky there was an escape route".
The Spaniard just gave his version of the close call, a normal technical manoeuvre:
"In front of me Massa blocked the front end and I had to go a little wide, however, I kept my line. Hamilton and I stayed side by side for three more corners, but I stayed ahead".
Yes, the advantage over the fellow enemy, the leitmotif of a season.
"The championship is open for everyone, the Ferraris can come back, but I am racing against Hamilton and today I am happy to have shortened the gap. I won the first final out of four. We will try to win the next race in Japan, also because I fear China and Brazil".
Fernando Alonso walks away from the conference room, down to the paddock, Bernie Ecclestone’s right-hand man shows him photos on a state-of-the-art American iPhone:
"I want one, you have to find it for me".
Then he high-fives Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari’s sporting director. But when he is told at the hospitality about his teammate’s groans, he loses control:
"I can’t reply to everyone every day. One day Hamilton speaks, the next day Dennis, tomorrow it will be Rosa Quintana’s turn".
Alonso is referring to a Spanish television starlet who is an expert in love advice.
"No, I can’t answer to everyone".
Ron Dennis steps in to mediate and Lewis Hamilton closes by demurring:
"These are things that can happen on track if you’re fighting for the World Championship".
Right, Dennis. He says:
"We have two great drivers and we have to expect these kinds of manoeuvres because both are extremely competitive. We have two great drivers and we’re not going to favour anyone".
One is glacial and must be careful not to melt given the shower of compliments after the Spa triumph. The other is fiery, rebellious and so much more, after the thousands of definitions that have been pinned on him with the developments in the spy story, and he is in danger of being compromised by the many criticisms that have come crashing down on him. Kimi Räikkönen wins in Belgium, celebrates and then apologises for the misplaced spin (you should not let your instincts get the best of you like that), but what matters is that he returns to his hopes of winning the World Championship, after narrowing the gap to Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. He has to win the last three races, it will not be easy, especially in Japan, the first of the series, an unseen circuit, a gamble for everyone, but perhaps more so for Ferrari than McLaren, but he intends to try, wishing his rivals (still this instinct out of control) to run into some retirements. Fernando Alonso is keeping afloat, continues to drive very well, despite now being accused of everything, stealing points at every race from Lewis Hamilton, believing in his own chances, when the storm allows, when he is not forced to defend himself against the most brutal accusations, blackmailer (of McLaren and Ron Dennis), liar (until he told the FIA everything), profiteer (for the amnesty agreed with Max Mosley), and now also bribing mechanics. Yes, because the latest charge comes from England, to make it known is the Daily Mirror, ready to claim that the Spaniard offers money to McLaren men, to favour him over Lewis Hamilton, to get him to finish ahead of his rival, to work more on his car and less on the Englishman’s. The British tabloid has no doubts: Alonso has offered his mechanics £650 each for each Grand Prix finished ahead of his teammate.
"It is the latest episode in a war between Alonso and McLaren. First he tried to blackmail his team, then to throw Hamilton off at Spa and now he is trying to buy the loyalty of his mechanics and engineers".
Digging into the folds of the indictment, it becomes clear that the newspaper’s is a trial of intent. Fernando Alonso has so far not thrown out a pound; he would only have thrown out the idea, immediately clashing against the no of Ron Dennis, more determined than ever to ban such an initiative:
"Because it could create a rift within the team".
It is one thing, Dennis thinks, to claim that the two drivers are on an equal footing; it is quite another to allow a flow of money, which could give rise to blackmail and ill-feeling. The fact remains that the Spaniard is now in the crosshairs of much of the press, especially the British press, which does not forgive him for tanking the British McLaren, and the German press, which has dumped him for having hit the Teutonic Mercedes. We are now at a real battle, you can tell when it is claimed that Fernando Alonso at the start would try not to defend third place, but to take Lewis Hamilton out. Chauvinism that does not faze the Spaniard much. Between one silence and another, there is never a shortage of venomous retorts. There is no one yet on the offer to the mechanics, but on the manoeuvre with Hamilton, the concept is clear:
"In the race you fight, I didn’t do anything wrong and I got tired of replying to those who always complain".
As in: Lewis wipe your tears and think about fighting. The relationship between the two will always be worse, and that is also what Kimi Räikkönen is banking on. He talks about retirements, maybe he means accidents. Godsend from heaven, on one condition: that he always wins from here to the end.