"Stepneygate" verdict reached: McLaren stripped of '07 championship points, fined $100 million
by Alex Nunez on Sep 13th 2007 at 4:07PM 
The ongoing "Stepneygate" espionage scandal that has embroiled Formula 1 this summer has drawn to a conclusion (for the time being, at least), and the World Motor Sport Council has meted out some severe punishment. McLaren F1 has been stripped of all its constructors' championship points for the 2007 season and fined $100,000,000 USD -- a record amount. This puts Ferrari in the points lead and makes them the probable champions this year. The BBC also reports that McLaren must prove that none of its cars are making use of any improperly-obtained Ferrari intellectual property before the beginning of next year's F1 campaign.
McLaren will finish out the current F1 season on the track, and both Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have retained their accumulated drivers' championship points. The FIA's findings and the council's reasoning behind its verdict will be released tomorrow. McLaren boss Ron Dennis will apparently wait to see this information before making a final decision on whether he's going to appeal the council's decision, though based on his quotes in the BBC's report, it sounds like his mind's made up, and an appeal is all but inevitable.
Thanks to all who sent tips!
[Source: BBC]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Justin 4:10PM (9/13/2007)
oh snap...that won't be buffing right out...
So what's this mean for the future of McLaren?
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mrbalogna 4:15PM (9/13/2007)
Wow, that is a staggering penalty.
The big question is: who gets the $100,000,000?
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MKIV 4:42PM (9/13/2007)
Probably the old fart.
SVG 4:15PM (9/13/2007)
They got what they deserve.
From now on people in this industry will think twice before even considering stealing other team's data.
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K 4:19PM (9/13/2007)
It wasn't stealing. They didn't break into ferrari's factory and steal the data. A ferrari employee CAME to them with it. A big difference. Ferrari should also be punished.
SVG 4:47PM (9/13/2007)
if a car salesman suggested you come to their lot at night and grab some of the vehicles... just don't tell anyone. Is that stealing? Yes, of course. The cars are not his and he would be considered a criminal himself.
Bevill 5:04PM (9/13/2007)
That's silly. Ferrari as a company did not hand over the documents and McLarceny should have acted as soon as they found out.
nagmashot 5:55PM (9/13/2007)
Toyota did the same to Ferrari soem years ago and were not striped of points and forced to pay $100,000,000
I smell there politic..
ryan 4:20PM (9/13/2007)
^^ dibs!!
man, that's a lot of zeros...
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FamilyGuy 4:22PM (9/13/2007)
I think a lot of people saw this coming. That's a ridiculously high fine and I would be be surprised if its appealed and is chopped by 3/4's
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FamilyGuy 4:23PM (9/13/2007)
Whoops.. Meant to say "I would NOT be surprised if its appealed..."
gus 4:37PM (9/13/2007)
i still find it amusing that Ferrari's engineer doesn't know how to use a CD/DVD-burner... LOL
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BirdmanSTX 4:42PM (9/13/2007)
The $100 million includes whatever money they would have won for the manufacturers championship, etc. So the actual amount of cash they'll have to fork over will be less, but still a huge amount.
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UAW 5:05PM (9/13/2007)
Too bad. I think McLaren is the best team out there (except for the times when Ferrari had Schumacher).
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tpp 5:08PM (9/13/2007)
Well, I bet Ferrari would be pretty good, too, if they had both the Ferrari team and the McLaren team working to improve their car. Don't you think?
UAW 5:55PM (9/13/2007)
I certainly think so. Probably it is not wise, then, to let go employees who has intimate knowledge of the car. So ex-Ferrari and current McLaren employees made some strides. Whether they used Ferrari material - that is a real questions. Ferrari certainly wants to think so to justify slippage to the second place. But did it happen? I don't think so, they are not that stupid, and this is what was determined a few days ago, clearing McLaren of any wrongdoing. Such decision reversal is perplexing.
Cam 5:17PM (9/13/2007)
Considering this has happened before where Ferrari were caught trying to sell its confidential dossier to Toyota for its F1 team and Ferrari didn't even get a slap on the wrist makes me think that either Ferrari is resorting to dirty tactics to win either the constructors' trophy or the drivers' trophy or that the World Motorsport Council is sat in Ferrari's back pocket
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catgirlshyla 1:18AM (9/14/2007)
"World Motorsport Council is sat in Ferrari's back pocket"
A good number of the FIA are connected in someway to Ferrari. Hell, i've seen some allude to the FIA as "FIArrari."
Eldiablo 5:32PM (9/13/2007)
McLaren to Ferrari:- All your secrets are belong to us.
Ferrari to McLaren:- All your dollar are belong to US.
If Ferrari are too dumb to keep their IP private, then as far as I can guess, their IP can't be worth having. This is going to open up a whole world of tit-for-tat grassing. But if a similar accusation is thrown at Ferrari, I can't seem a similar punishment being meated out.
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Hugh 9:50AM (12/14/2007)
If Ferrari can't win the World Championship honestly and fairly, they then resort to whatever means they can win it. Michael used to run his competition off the road to win. Remember Mansell and Jacques V. getting put off by Michael. This is just the latest round of finding a way to win. This year's championship needs to have an asterick next to it. (*- not really won by beating McLaren). I can't stand Ferrari.