Theatre, courtroom drama, light opera or soap. There was a touch of everything
in the paddock at Monza yesterday, even some highly charged racing. By the
end of a day of rumour, counter-rumour, truth and fiction, the two McLarens
of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were sitting contentedly on the front
row of the grid for today’s Italian grand prix – and Formula One, with
McLaren on one side and the world governing body on the other, was heading
at high speed towards Armageddon.
With the Italian judiciary now officially involved in the spy scandal that has
already rocked the sport, the destiny of the world title and the hypnotic
talent of Hamilton have become secondary to the machinations of an industry
choking on its own intrigue. On the day the law moved to issue writs on
several McLaren employees, including Ron Dennis, F1 resembled a cross
between Disneyland and Dodge City. At the height of the speculation, it was
announced that writs had also been served on Hamilton, Alonso and Pedro de
la Rosa, McLaren’s test driver. It was one rumour too far.
By yesterday afternoon, Dennis, the embattled boss of F1’s dominant team,
remained defiant in the face of almost overwhelming pressure, but admitted
that this was the worst crisis in the long, distinguished history of his
team. “There are a few people round here who would like me to retire,” he
said. “If that proved to be in the interests of the company, then I wouldn’t
hesitate to do it.”
In the meantime, McLaren and Dennis plan to mount a fight-back against the
accusations brought against them by Ferrari, which will be heard again at a
hastily convened meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris on
Thursday. Make no mistake, McLaren, Hamilton and Alonso will be fighting for
their lives. New evidence will be provided by McLaren and the FIA over
allegations that Nigel Stepney, the former Ferrari chief mechanic, provided
technical information to Mike Coughlan, then chief designer at McLaren.
The WMSC’s initial judgment was that Coughlan was acting as an individual and
that nobody else in the McLaren team knew about the 780-page Ferrari dossier
in his possession before July. But last week it emerged that the FIA, as a
result of a tip-off from within the sport, had written to all 11 team
principals and to three McLaren drivers – Alonso, Hamilton and De la Rosa –
requesting them to “produce copies of any relevant documents which may be in
your possession”. The drivers were threatened with the withdrawal of their
super licences if they failed to cooperate, but were also assured that no
further action would be taken “under the International Sporting Code or the
F1 regulations”.
The full letter to De la Rosa was published on Friday, but the implication,
widely denied by Alonso, was that the world champion had deliberately handed
over e-mail correspondence that might be damaging to his own team as part of
his growing disenchantment with McLaren’s perceived preference for Hamilton.
“That’s a lie,” said Alonso. “If McLaren is punished, I will be too because
I am part of the team.”
One of the e-mails between the two Spanish drivers reportedly referred to tyre
development at Ferrari. “Do you know,” De la Rosa wrote to Alonso, “I’ve
found out how Ferrari is able to get its tyres to work to perfection.”
Alonso replied: “I don’t believe it.” Privately, McLaren believe that this
is part of the daily rumour and speculation which flows through the pit lane
at every race. “It used to be that drivers talked to each other, now it’s
e-mails,” commented Niki Lauda, three times world champion for both McLaren
and Ferrari. “That’s just the modern way.”
According to police sources in Italy, though, the FIA will be given evidence
that there were “hundreds” of telephone conversations and text messages
between Stepney and Coughlan and that the information passed between the two
was far more detailed than has been revealed so far. If proved, McLaren’s
contention that none of the information could be used to improve the
performance of their car for this season would be severely compromised.
McLaren vowed yesterday to mount a vigorous defence of their position in
Paris. “Ron’s a fighter,” said a source close to the team. “He feels he is
being pushed out of F1 as part of a vendetta, but he’s not one to walk away.”
Rumours that Dennis was considering withdrawing his team and his two drivers
from the world championship if the punishment on Thursday were to be
draconian, had already reached the ears of Ecclestone, F1’s chief
puppetmaster. Significantly, Ecclestone did not rule out the prospect of a
civil war by next weekend’s grand prix at Spa, particularly as McLaren
reportedly also have new evidence to bring to the table on Thursday.
“People come to me and say he [Ron] is going to withdraw,” said Ecclestone
yesterday. “I’ve no idea. But if they’ve done something really bad, wrong,
and they’ve got a big advantage, you’ve got to take it on the chin and say,
‘I’ve been caught with my hand in the till, let’s see how we can get out of
it’. If I’d been in that position, I wouldn’t withdraw, I’d try to
straighten it out. If you let someone get away with that, what’s next? Then
after that you let them get away because you’ve let that get away, what
comes after that? Then there are no rules and regulations. It’s make your
own rules.”
The FIA went as far as denying that it is pursuing a feud against McLaren as
payback for the Dennis-led revolt against the Concord Agreement. “The
suggestion that the FIA’s ongoing investigation is about anything other than
the pursuit of sporting fairness demonstrates a blinding refusal to accept
basic facts,” it said.
Whatever the party line from the FIA, Formula One without McLaren is as
inconceivable as Formula One without Ferrari. To
remove either Alonso or Hamilton – or both – from the most
enthralling fight for the world title since the days of Alain Prost and
Ayrton Senna would be suicidal for the image of a sport experiencing a
remarkable renaissance this season.
Hamilton’s talent has world-wide appeal, even here at the home of Ferrari,
where a brief appearance for an autograph session after free practice on
Friday brought the pit lane to a standstill. “I would love to see Lewis win
the world championship,” said Ecclestone. “I think everyone would.
Schumacher’s gone, now we’ve got this new guy and he’s wonderful. If you
took his hat off and you put Schumacher’s hat on, you’d think: ‘Christ,
Schumacher’s back’. He’s as good as Michael, certainly on the track.”
Yesterday, for once, Hamilton could not find the extra spark of inspiration to
claim pole.
Instead, belying his recent qualifying form, Alonso drove a near flawless
penultimate lap to secure his first pole position since Monaco in May. More
importantly for both drivers, who are separated by just five points in the
championship, Felipe Massa, the leading Ferrari driver, will start on the
second row, behind Alonso, while teammate Kimi Rakkonen, who suffered a
high-speed crash in the morning’s free practice, could manage only fifth,
behind the improving Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber.
As he walked back to the McLaren-Mercedes motorhome after qualifying, Dennis
had a smile on his face as broad as the pit lane. “We think we are leading
the championship fair and square,” he said.
The pertinent question now is whether they will still be in the championship
for the grand prix in Spa next weekend.
How the story broke: timeline in the F1 spy scandal
June 22 Ferrari say they will investigate Nigel Stepney, head of team
performance development, for alleged sabotage before the Monaco GP
July 3 Ferrari sack Stepney and McLaren suspend chief designer Mike
Coughlan, inset, after documents are found at his home
July 10 Coughlan and wife Trudy appear at High Court. Ferrari say that
if Mrs Coughlan had not taken a 780-page dossier to a photocopying shop,
they would never have been aware the McLaren engineer had the documents.
Coughlans agree to give details of how they received dossier if High Court
proceedings are halted
July 12 FIA summon McLaren to answer a charge of possession of Ferrari
documents
July 26 World Motor Sports Council imposes no penalty on McLaren,
saying there is ‘insuffi cient evidence’
Aug 31 FIA write to McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso
and Pedro de la Rosa offering amnesty in return for any evidence they have.
A week later, it emerges that Alonso and De la Rosa may have submitted
evidence they had been involved in an e-mail exchange that included Ferrari
technical secrets
Yesterday Italian police reportedly serve writs on fi ve McLaren
employees, including Ron Dennis, alleging possession of industrial secrets,
sporting fraud and sabotage. Writs also said to have been served on Stepney
and Coughlin
Sept 13 Second hearing before World Motor Sport Council. McLaren face
possible exclusion from 2007 and 2008 F1 championships
