This year could very well be a definitive year for sports for all the wrong reasons. The NFL is facing the nightmare that one of its marquee players is being heavily criticized by the fans for animal rights violations. The NBA is being rocked by the allegations of game fixing thanks to the betting scandal. The Tour de France again was plagued by certain riders failing drug tests. It seems that Formula 1 has joined the elite company with its own controversy.
The spy/ espionage saga began in the confines of Scuderia Ferrari when they accused Nigel Stepney of sabotage as well as leaking important documents. In less than a month, McLaren was already implicated in the affair when their senior employee Mike Coughlan was found with 780 pages of classified documents belonging to Ferrari. It was stated by the Italian squad that they wouldn’t even have known anything about Coughlan if they weren’t tipped-off by a photocopy worker who reported that Mike Coughlan’s wife attempted to manipulate the classified documents.
With such implicating evidence, it was no surprise that McLaren head Ron Dennis was summoned by the FIA World Motor Sport Council for a hearing. The objective was to settle the matter. Instead, the outcome merely took a dramatic twist.
The FIA stated that although McLaren Employee Mike Coughlan had in his possession the classified documents since the beginning of the season, the evidence was inconclusive that McLaren did in fact use the documents to build their car. Thus, no penalty was given. A warning however was emphasized that if new evidences emerge, the council could still very well penalize the team.
The verdict did little to absolve the matter. The Italian press has blatantly condemned the outcome accusing the council’s decision as more of a marketing move compromising ethics for ratings. The FIA was mentioned as unwilling to interfere in the championship at a time that the sport is drawing viewers thanks to the relatively close four-way battle led by the star rookie Lewis Hamilton. Such scenario was ideal for the sport since Michael Schumacher, the biggest attraction for more than a decade, chose to retire at the end of last season. To interfere with the championship would have risked a drop in ratings.
Ferrari on the other hand simply notes "McLaren has been found guilty by the FIA World Council. It therefore finds it incomprehensible that violating the fundamental principle of sporting honesty does not have, as a logical and inevitable consequence, the application of a sanction.”
Ferrari president Luca Montezemolo promised that the fight will continue and that the team will not lie down. Hence, the whole saga may still very well be far from over.
