F1 espionage case, Pt. II: The Appeal

FIA President Max Mosley (above) announced today that last week's decision by the World Motor sport council will be appealed. It appears the Italian motorsport authorities didn't like the idea of McLaren getting off so easily. Although they found that McLaren had indeed been given Ferrari's confidential materials, the group decided that the British team hadn't benefited from that info and no penalty was assessed. A warning was issued that if their feelings on that matter changed for any reason later in the season, they would revisit their penalty options. One of the reasons for the appeal is that Ferrari wasn't there. Mosley agreed that the outcome of the hearing may have been different if the Maranello firm had attended.

And while all this was going on, one of the parties involved said he thinks there is still a leak at Ferrari. Former head designer, Nigel Stepney, says that the person inside Ferrari who used him as a courier is still with the team. In his statements he makes the Formula 1 world sound like something straight out of a James Bond movie. Well, maybe Austin Powers. Stepney says that Ferrari knows more about the situation than it is admitting. He even claims that he was set up on this issue and on another one from a while back. At one point he had been investigated when a mysterious white powder had been found in the race cars' fuel tanks. He says that he was framed, and that the real culprit put the powder in his pocket while he was taking a shower!

Damn, this is getting good!

Thanks, Jay.

[Source: PitPass]