McLaren fined, stripped of constructors’ points

From formula1.com

McLaren have been excluded from the 2007 constructors’ championship and fined US$100 million following Thursday’s FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) hearing in Paris. Drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have not been penalized and are free to continue their fight for the drivers' title.

"The WMSC have stripped Vodafone McLaren Mercedes of all constructor points in the 2007 FIA Formula One world championship and the team can score no points for the remainder of the season,” said an FIA statement.

"Furthermore, the team will pay a fine equal to $100m, less the FOM (Formula One Management) income lost as a result of the points deduction.”

The penalty follows McLaren’s admission that the team was in breach of the International Sporting Code through their possession of confidential technical data belonging to rivals Ferrari, who are now all but assured of the 2007 constructors’ title.

The FIA will explain the reasons behind the Council's decision on Friday.

shocking decision...that is so unfair.They had the constructors title in the bag 

Unfair ?   Unfair ?

Is it so difficult for you to understand that they had the Constructors' Title "in the bag"
because they are guilty of industrial espionage on a grand scale.

How unfair is that ?

Answers on a postcard to:  Ferrari SpA,   Maranello, Italy.

I think it is harsh for them to be stripped of ALL of their contructors points, and fined $100 million. All of the team, including Hamilton and Alonso, have worked incredibly hard to gain the constructors points that they have. Now it's nothing. They may as well have given Ferrari the title there and then.

$100 million is a proper fine.  Wish the Premier League would start handing down similar punitive fines for football indiscretions.

A good day for sport in my opinion.

$100 million is a proper fine.  Wish the Premier League would start handing down similar punitive fines for football indiscretions.

A good day for sport in my opinion.

Agreed. It's also good that they've been stripped off all their points, plain & simple for me if someone in a sport cheats they should have no chance of winning any competitions, at least for that season. If UEFA could follow this simple concept we would've never faced Milan in the CL final and who knows what mioght have happened?

wasnt the info given to McLaren by a disgruntled Ferrari employee...
the 50 mill pound fine was for acting on that information supplied as proven by phone taps and emails...
not for espionage as McLaren didnt try to procure the info, it just fell into their laps (no pun intended)

the 2 McLaren drivers are still in the drivers world champion race
its ony the constructors championship that affected

its unfair because it wasnt completely proved that they used the ferrari information to improve their car.
McLaren never denied having that information,but the FIA couldnt prove it beyond doubt that they used it and still this punishment.

So Mclaren had the information but didn't tell anyone at the FIA or even Ferrari that they had received it? they just kept it for safe keeping in case it fell into the wrong hands? oh too late it already has!
They only have themselves to blame for the situation they are in and i would like to echo some of the other posters comments that for once a proper punishment has been dished out.
The fact i like Ferrari's little shiny red car doesnt come into it

I actually prefer McLaren, but at the end of the day cheating's cheating. Much as it would kill me, if our club was found guilty of match fixing or anything like that I would expect a suitable punishment to be handed to us too.

The Ferrari engineer came to McLaren on his own.McLaren didnt try to bribe him or attempt to convince him to pass on Ferrari's classified information to them.Nor did they try to use it to gain an advantage.

I'm not saying that they didnt deserve to be punished.I'm just saying that the $100m fine and the constructor points penalty is way too harsh.

McLaren's statement:

The entire engineering team in excess of 140 people provided statements to the FIA affirming that they had never received or used the Ferrari information.

"We have never denied that the information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of our employees at his home. The issue is: was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today.

"We are also continually asked if McLaren didn't use the information, what was the reason for Stepney and Coughlan collecting all this data about Ferrari? We can only speculate as neither Coughlan nor Stepney gave evidence at today's hearing, but we do know that they were both seeking employment with other teams, as already confirmed by both Honda and Toyota.

mclaren should have come clean first day its their lack of complete honesty cost them  which is beyond reasonable doubt for me!!

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2007/9/6775.html

Okay no more arguments