This is a shocker; I honestly thought that they’d got off scot free.
I agree the severity of the sanctions is a bit of a surprise, but I was under the impression that the evidence against MM was pretty bullet proof.
I’m glad Hamilton (and Alonso, too I guess) aren’t being punished. Hamilton has taken the F1 world by storm, of course if he was driving for a lesser team (like a non Ferrari infused MM) he might not be so noticed.
Last week at Monza they said Dennis was a bundle of nerves, I bet he’s shitting down both legs today.
Where do you stand ?
I think this is the biggest shambles, I might have a slight Brit bias towards Mclaren, however this ruling ($100 fine and drop all constructor points for the season) has corruption written all over it.
I’m very suprised it got this far in the first place,
- A disgruntled Ferrari employee gives Mclaren a lot of info and because this info has alledgedly been seen by senior team members Mclaren are dragged into a huge spying scandal.
2)spying has always gone on in formula 1, Eddie Jordan summed it up pretty well when he said that designers and engineers are frequently changing teams and to think that they dont take some technical info with them is just daft.
Ferrari think they are bigger than the sport, when they have been accused with cheating they threatened to stop racing. I think that is exactly what Mclaren should do, ‘Ok, if you are going to be like that we will not race anymore’. This season has been the most interesting in a long time and has brought in new tv audiences, particulary over here with Lewis Hamilton’s success. The FIA and any world motorsport council would have to think twice if Mclaren threatened to pull out.
sorry $100 million (missed my edit and feels it makes a bit of a difference in reading)
McLaren didn’t get any sanctions when the 780 pages of evidence was discovered, they were given the benefit of doubt that any of the information had been used. Now it appears that there was knowledge amongst the drivers that they were indeed using that information. If Dennis had insisted that nobody in the organization was to ever use any of the information, McLaren would have probably skated through this deal (although I think there is still a pending lawsuit in Italy that they might not have been able to avoid).
A sad day, whichever side you take. I was personally thrilled to see a team other than Ferrari emerge as the top mark, but I was kind of hoping they’d gotten there under their own steam. I wouldn’t blame them one bit if they just packed it in until 2009, but I’d feel bad for Hamilton getting stuffed into a Spyker or such.
Interestingly, Ferrari didn’t get any sanctions for winning the Australian GP with an illegal car.
Don’t have enough of the facts to know if the McClaren penalty and fine is justified, but the decision to punish the team and not the drivers strikes me as very political. They know lots of poeople will turn off if the championship is decided by a ruling.
It’s a very canny ruling: most people don’t care about the constructors’ championship.
I’m a little confused by the ruling. Either they used the information or they didn’t. If they did, which seems to be the final decision, then surely the drivers benefited and should lose points?
I’ve been enjoying the season so far and I’m happy to see an English driver doing so well but this just doesn’t sit right with me.
It would appear that the drivers testified in exchange for immunity. Not sure how that’ll set with the team, might be a moot point if the team withdraws from F1.
From the F1 Website
If the team thought they were nailed they might have told them to do it to minimize the damage. As it is, they still have a chance to finish 1-2 on the season. That’s not too bad of a consolation prize if you ask me. Besides, as was said before, who cares about the Constructors’ Championship? All anyone really remembers is who won and in what car.
I had no idea that stuff was popular enough to generate $100 million in revenue altogether, much less be a fine for one team’s cheating. Of course, I had to look it up to see that there’s this whole huge world of racing that I only occaisionally see on TV, mostly to marvel at how the hell they can just shut down major roads in European cities for a freaking car race. Of course, I’m utterly dumbfounded at NASCAR’s popularity as well. I reckon I should get out more or something… [/ignorant doofus]. Anyway, from what I can tell, that $100M is something like a quarter of McLaren’s spending this year…pretty hefty, but being a cheat can cost you dearly; something folks should remember when cavalierness creeps in.
I suppose that you could look at it as that the drivers don’t have any choice in the matter - while they certainly have input into how the car is tweaked, to a certain extent they’re given a car and have to drive it, no matter how it’s designed.
Knowing the FIA, though, I’m going to go with the political explanation. 
I don’t know yet, really. I think maybe the punishment is too severe, but without more details about what and how it was used… I am honestly surprised by the punishment either way though. The FIA is very concerned with how they look but they also don’t want to loose a team of long standing like McLaren, so I thought that they’d get a slap on the wrist.
Who gets the $100M and what are they going to do with it?
Ummm… I’m assuming that it will be the FIA, Formula One’s governing body, as they’re the ones laying the fine. They’re a multi-billion dollar a year business, so it’s probably just going to go into their budget?
Woohoo, party at Bernie’s!
Damn, it must be nice to not only decide the fine but to also be the prime beneficiary.
There are only two on the F1 circuit: Monaco and Spa Francorchamps.
But it happens a lot more over here. The 2007 Champ Car World Series includes five street courses (Miami, Long Beach, Toronto, San Jose, and Surfer’s Paradise in Australia). The Indy Racing League has two this year: St. Petersburg, FL, and Detroit.
And most of these series have one or more support races (like a minor league) that run on the same courses on the race weekend. Although ISTR that in a few cases the lesser series don’t race on some of the street courses, perhaps to reduce the impact on the community.
Freaking car races are big deals!
Well, if you listen to Speed Channel’s Steve Matchett, ex-Benneton mechanic from the Schumacher championship days, the constructor’s championship is more highly sought within the F1 community. It is seen as more emblematic of the entire team’s effort (from the truck drivers to the mechanics to the big shots on the pit wall) than the driver’s championship. So it does means something within “the club”…though perhaps even within the club this will will be an “asterisk year” and Ferrari won’t get full credit for winning.
That being said, there are also further financial penalties for McLaren down the line because the end of season prize money payout from Bernie back to the teams is based on the constructors’ standings. The amount of the prize money is a secret, but it is by all accounts a sizable pile of euros.
But you are right, the fans won’t care at all if Lewis or Fernando wins the driver’s title while McLaren has a 0 next to their name in the constructors table.
Does Albert Park use any public streets or roads?
Do they still close any public roads at Spa? The old Spa-Malmedy-Stavelot configuration was all (mostly?) public roads, but I thought it was a dedicated-use track now.