According to our newsfeed from Italy's ANSA, it all started back on June 22nd with this article:
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news...sp?newsid=5648
It states that a former engineer Nigel Stepney had sabotaged Ferrari's F1 cars with a powder substance which was put into the fuel tanks previous to the famous Grand Prix race at Monaco.
Then on July 4th Ferrari opened the gamut, stating that Nigel not only sabotaged Ferrari's cars (and was subsequently fired for it), but he also was passing techincal information to McLaren. McLaren did not say whom was the finger pointed at, and Stepney denied the charges against him, claiming it was a smear campaign against him.
FIA called on McLaren and Ferrari regarding the matter, on July 26th. Later, the suspected McLaren chief designer Mike
Coughlan decided, along with his wife and accomplise
Quote:
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Originally Posted by ANSA "to present a sworn statement giving details of his involvement in the alleged affair." |
Under British law if any of the statement is false, they will be automatically found guilty and sent to jail.
The information in question was how Coughlan ended up with a 780 page book of Ferrari's technical info, and if it was used in their own cars and distributed to higher-ups at McLaren. Apparently his wife had the book photocopied at a local shop according to lawyers, and that is how they found out he had the info. FIA then opened its own case on the matter.
On July 26th, the FIA met with Ferrari and McLaren for a hearing in Paris, France, and the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence from Ferrari. There were no penalties charged to either teams. McLaren stated that they had no idea of this information or the 780 pages until July 3rd when Ferrari noted McLaren about it.
Ferrari, immensly upset at the outcome of the hearing, said they would continue with legal actions against Coughlan and McLaren. Massa, Ferrari's driver, stated he "is only here to drive the car". Ferarri later stated they may be able to appeal, which they planned on doing forthright.
Meanwhile, the mood in Italy was one of indignation and there were suggestions that Formula 1 bosses had decided against punishing McLaren so as not to disrupt the championship.
On July 31st Ferrari officially had its appeal accepted by the FIA, and a Ferrari official described the decision to hold an
appeal hearing, in which both sides could participate, as "sensible".
If McLaren is found guilty, they will be removed from this years championship as well as the 2008 championshionship as well.
Since these accusations have started, both McLaren and Ferrari (the frontrunners of the F1 season) have been at each other, from accusations of illegal car tactics and modifications to just plain rivalry, making it quite an exciting season!
Finally, in todays news, Ferrari claims to have new evidence regarding the case, and the hearing it set for September 13th, one week from today!
McLaren are 11 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' championship with five races remaining. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton leads the driver's championship by five point from team mate Fernando Alonso. Ferrari's Felipe Massa is 10 points behind Alonso and one point ahead of team mate Kimi Raikkonen. No drivers are commenting on the matter, a wise decision indeed.
More news when it drops!!
Here is a backlog of all the articles from our newsfeed regarding this event, from most recent to oldest. 
The Ferrari & McLaren F1 Scandal 
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