McLaren fined $100 million, stripped of points

Sep 13, 2007, 23:14 GMT

Paris, France - The McLaren-Mercedes team has been penalized heavily for its part in the spying scandal in Formula One racing, but Thursday's ruling will not affect leading drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

The team has been fined $100 million and has been stripped of its points in the constructors' standings after a ruling Thursday by the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC).

'The WMSC have stripped Vodafone McLaren Mercedes of all constructor points in the 2007 FIA Formula One world championship and the team can score no points for the remainder of the season,' said an FIA statement.

'Furthermore, the team will pay a fine equal to $100 million, less the FOM (Formula One Management) income lost as a result of the points deduction.

'However, due to the exceptional circumstances in which the FIA gave the team's drivers an immunity in return for providing evidence, there is no penalty in regards to drivers' points.'

The penalty follows McLaren's admission that the team was in possession of confidential technical data belonging to rival team Ferrari.

'The most important thing is that we will be going motor racing this weekend, the rest of the season and every season,' McLaren said in a statement. 'This means that our drivers can continue to compete for the World Championship.'

The Ferrari team also issued a statement, saying 'Ferrari is satisfied that the truth has now emerged.'

Earlier this year, news broke that a Ferrari employee apparently gave documents to McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan. Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney, accused of supplying those documents to the rival team, was subsequently fired. Coughlan was suspended.

'We have never denied that the information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of our employees at his home,' McLaren's statement continued. 'The issue is: was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today.

'We are also continually asked if McLaren didn't use the information, what was the reason for Stepney and Coughlan collecting all this data about Ferrari? We can only speculate, as neither Coughlan nor Stepney gave evidence at today's hearing, but we do know that they were both seeking employment with other teams, as already confirmed by both Honda and Toyota.'

An initial ruling in July acknowledged that McLaren had possession of the technical data, but had not used it to its advantage. Sanctions were not issued at the time.

New evidence apparently evolved and the FIA asked McLaren drivers to cooperate in exchange for immunity.

'Today's evidence given to the FIA by our drivers, engineers and staff clearly demonstrated that we did not use any leaked information to gain a competitive advantage,' McLaren added.

The McLaren drivers, Hamilton and Alonso, rank 1-2 in the driver standings.

With four races remaining in the 2007 season, including the upcoming Belgium Grand Prix, Hamilton has a three-point lead over Alonso. Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen is 18 points behind in third place, while Felipe Massa -- also of Ferrari -- is another five points off the pace.

McLaren had 166 points and a lead of 23 over Ferrari in the constructors' standings. Ferrari will now be all but assured of the title.

Thursday's ruling also included a provision for the WMSC to take further action against McLaren.

'The WMSC will receive a full technical report on the 2008 McLaren car and will take a decision at its December 2007 meeting as to what sanction, if any, will be imposed on the team for the 2008 season.'

© 2007 The Sports Network