F1 espionage, Act II: Renault accused of spying on McLaren
Formula One teams have long tried to glean insight into what their competition is doing, but this year's spying scandals have exploded into all-out espionage. After the whole Stepneygate/Ferrari vs. McLaren thing, we thought that was the last we'd hear of spying until at least next year. But now we have some new accusations of espionage to consider. And in an odd twist of fate, the alleged culprit in the first spying scandal is claimed to be the victim in this most recent one.
According to the AP, the FIA has asked Renault to appear before the World Motor Sport Council on Dec. 6 to face accusations that it had "unauthorized possession of documents and confidential information" of McLaren's (!) cars between September 2006 and October 2007. As tired as we are of this whole spying thing, the result could be that next season is contested with McLaren and Renault unable to earn points. The FIA is still waiting to look at the 2008 McLaren car to see if it can spot any evidence that the team may have learned something useful from the Ferrari technical data it allegedly stole. We don't want to jump to conclusions, but if McLaren and Renault are both found guilty of spying, it could mean Ferrari has a lot less competition next year. We'll keep you posted.
Thanks for the tip, Devin!
[Source: AP via ESPN, photo by Clive Mason/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Evan Brom 4:03PM (11/09/2007)
Maybe if they didn't spy Ferrari would have a lot less competition anyway.
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theSAWzall 4:04PM (11/09/2007)
I get a kick that the data was stolen on floppy disks. What is this 1994?
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Cameron 5:56PM (11/09/2007)
I was thinking the same thing. What is with disgruntled Formula 1 engineers not knowing how to burn CDs?
The Penguin 4:19PM (11/09/2007)
Renault stole from McLaren, McLaren stole from Ferrari, and we will soon learn that Ferrari stole from Renault!
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Luis 4:53PM (11/09/2007)
This is all so interesting...yawwnnnn!
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Tagg 5:51PM (11/09/2007)
Well they must suck at it then because Renault looked like a second rate team all year.
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fm 12:18AM (11/12/2007)
the car was good... the drivers on the other hand... well thankfully they had the rooky
adrian 5:26PM (11/14/2007)
Ok this is like maFIA. In the history of th f1 allways have been spy! Why now all this which burning???? Because of the FIA´s solution next december 6th Alonso may finish driving for RedBull!!! because if renault have to pay a lot of money them wouldn´t have money too pay fernando.... will we she the only 2 times champion of the pitline in a no-official team??? is the best no-official team but may this affect to fernandos career??? or may he kick his enemy´s asses making the best seasson of a no official team??? it´s posible (sorry for my englis)
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JOEL 11:04PM (12/11/2007)
ferrrari stole from renault , the art of making croissant
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