Dear Ed.

Can't you Brits just come to terms that that McLaren is a bunch of cheats that made them a dominant team this season?.. Just recall where McLaren was last season vis-a-vis Renault- where Renault and Ferrari were the dominant teams and McLaren the struggling team. What's the difference this year that makes Renault a so-so team and so suddenly McLaren one of the two dominant teams with Ferrari? They had a mole in Ferrari and the bible of Ferrari. If that's not cheating, what is?

Dr S Leong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Mclaren have been consistently faster than Ferrari all season so it begs the question that even if Mclaren had the technology from Ferrari why would they use it as it is clearly inferior to what Mclaren has built

Neil, Newcastle, England

Motor racing F1 is like any other sport. Athletes who take drugs are disqualified, unfair football players are sent off and sometimes disqualified to play for a certain period of time. If Mclaren is found guilty to have obtained and used priviliged information and research of their competitors then the team and the drivers need to be disqualified and 20 penalty points given. This case is no different to infringment of copy and patent rights. If proper penalty is not dispensed then this great sport would disappoint its fans and lost its shine. Let us take examples from other International Federations.

Sunny, Athens, Greece

Clearly witch hunting and an attempt to psychologically derail the McLaren team and especially their drivers from focusing on the championship. This is so lame. So, did Renault F1 also receive a copy of the dossier from Stepney or Couglan?

Leonard Ndinyo, NAIROBI, KENYA

Hard to beleve that Hamilton didn't know anything about it when the other 2 drivers had some info from inside. I don't know but if he is keeping something even if is just a conversation over the phone he could be in trouble. Trying to be loyal to his boss may cost him his superlicence to drive in F1 and then....
Respect for all and good luck McLaren

A. Alonso, London, Uk

Let's suppose for a minute that McLaren team has used some information taken from the Ferrari 'book' or his engineer.
What can we conclude from this fact?
Well, if both teams have had the same information about how a Ferrari car performances and both team have been using it to develop their own cars, then, since McLaren team is ahead in the championship, have won more races and their cars are faster than Ferrari's, I would conclude that the McLaren team is a better team because under the same circunstances they have been able to develope a better car. have they not? It's only a supposition of course, but I think Ferrari should learn from that and I do not think they deserve to win a championship on a table. This is a racing game and need to be win at the tracks.

Pedro Sanchez, Lancaster, UK

It's really disappointing how much rubbish is written by some of the readers of this column. Perhaps there is a lack of understanding of our judicial system, and therefore a complete misjudgement of E Gorman's perspective. In Britain, you are innocent until proven guilty (unlike many of our European counterparts). This is deeply engrained in our culture.

What does this mean? To put it simply, McLaren is innocent until the evidence presented proves otherwise. It is on this basis that we pass judgement.

So no. Dear E Gorman, remain the Briton and journalist that you are.

RuAsh, London, Great Britain

McLaren is undefendable. In this case, without heavy sanctions, the F1 will be a died sport.

Emanuele, Florence,

Dear Ed,

What if Ferrari was the *guilty*? Be honest and hope that McLaren and its pilot will pay a lot for this cheating. Only in this way F1 will came out clean and honest. Top managers to be fired. I also do expect major lawsuits from the pilots to the team.

dino, Seattle, USA

This again shows the extent to which Ferrari will stoop to undermine the opposition, infuence the governing body and manipulate the gullible and incompetent italian media. Max Mosley should have got this whole issue by the scruff of its neck and closed it in July. The message it sends to the sporting world is weak governing body, biased media and an obvious vindictive vendetta against McLaren - surprise, surprise!
If they fail to see sense tomorrow and close this down I would applaud McLaren's stance if they let rip and exposed every dodgy deal since 1950...we might then get an FIA leader worthy of the position and Ferrari will be exposed to what 90% of impartial race fans have known all along, as Paul Stoddart recently quoted, FIA = Ferrari International Assistance!
Maybe Monsieur Todt would like to contemplate a little on why he failed to control one of his employees and initiated this whole farce...he faces equal guilt, if any, to Ron.

David S, Hull, East Yorkshire

We cannot get access to the evidence in this case. An apparent non-legal body, WMSC, (an offshoot of FIA ?) is setting itself out as judge and jury. I read that an Italian has admitted generating false e-mails. Is he the only one to produce falsity ? The FIA seem to have abandoned their ruling position in motor sport by allowing the present F1 organisation to dictate many of the details of the competition, thus cutting out national authorities as well. I am afraid that confidence in the "Ruling Authority" is being dented again and again as day follows day.
Nigel Lillywhite. Ipswich. UK.

Nigel Lillywhite, Ipswich, UK

This seemed to be a good season with renewed interest in many ways.

Now the spectator is being turned off again by off track arguments.

This season is being ruined by all this.

Tim, Sherborne, Dorset

F1 is a small world and there has always been a certain degree of illegal exchange of information. But if you get caught with the hands in the cookie jar the FIA must punish you. It doesn´t matter if McC used the information or not. A 800 page dossier with all vital information about the biggest competitor in the hands of the chief engineer, number 3 or 4 in the company hierarchy is not a cavaliers delict. You can´t plead innocent afterwards. It´s like getting caught with marihuana and say: but I did not inhale! McC has the responsibility for their leading staff. So in the first hearing they should have been punished with a big fine and loosing 50 points. Period. They did wrong. I don´t get it why they were declared guilty but not guilty unless proven that they used the information. For me one thing hasn´t got to do with the other. So now it will be a long messy case, the English, the Italians, the Spanish - all will have their little conspiracy theories. Sad for F1...

Andreas Schultheis, Barcelona, Spain

you should be worried for hamilton, he knew of it and did not send some emails that compromise him. No wonder he was sobbing after race,when he heard that FIA has evidence against him

carmelo cortes, buenos aires,

Question to Ed

Just looking at the TV images of Alonso after the 1-2 victory at Monza, It seemed to me that he wes not really happy and I got the feeling he wes frustrated and sad underneath the obviously good feeling of having beating Ferrari at their home GP and a solid win over Hamilton

Hamilton initially looked OK in the press conference, but not much later told the press of his doubts as well.

To me this indicated that not only Dennis has to fear punishment regarding the constructors' title, also the drivers are expecting a severe punishment.

What is your feeling?

Frank, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Is Mercedes involved too?
If yes, what has F1 become?
Ron Dennis should be replaced together with all those who knew even a little of the scandal.

Stop Enzo Ferrari rolling in his coffin and condemn McLaren to 0 points.

Giovanni, Pescara, Italy

Someone pointed out that the McLaren team is made up of over 1000 individuals. It is not possible that even 100 of these are corrupt enough & wished to win so badly that they would cheat. Therefore Mike Coughlan had to believe that he could influence the cars engineering, design & production without making it apparent to rest of the team (innocent bystanders perhaps).

There is no question that Coughlan had received the technical data, the big question is how much of that data did he manage to introduce into the McLarens car. Why would Coughlan risk everything receiving the information if he didn't think he could make a difference without anyone being aware of his actions?

Maybe the sudden improvement to McLaren is due to the exceptional talents of ALONSO and the refreshing talent of Hamilton, but it is certainly questionable that they now have a very fast & reliable car. Punishment should be suitable without dramatically hurting the drivers or fans, a ban would be formula 1 suicide!

Tom, Bristol, England

No no, say they free for one and thas one. Wrong wrong, him, oh and him they like do this wrong alltime. An undefeningisible it be's.
Thanks Gerry from Naples, now we're all a little clearer as to the situation. Thanks for you're input, I think all our lives have been enriched by your detailed argument.

keith, Copenhagen,

Hi,
just imagine if the roles were inverted with Ferrari in the place of McLaren... Would it be the same story ? I do not think so.

Tom, Brussels, belgium

Isn't it funny how this all blew up again when the Grand Prix circus was in Italy, the home of - guess which team ?

Formula One should be made to race under the same rules as some of the "lesser" formulas, where all the cars HAVE to be the same, then we could see which driver is the best - NOT which car !

John Newbury, Calne , UK

Hooray for British objective journalism and its objective British readers!

It is obvious that the 700 pages Ferrari blueprint weren't used by Mc Laren, they never looked at them -no, nay, never!-, and planting them in Dennis' hands was just an astute ploy by Italian mafia bosses supporting Ferrari and governing FIA. And also all those emails where they speak of trying Ferrari solutions were also forged by plump mafia bosses eating too much spagetti who control the obviously biased Italian press. Italian press is prone to poetic licences. You know, that opera thing.
And the Italian authorities! They're obviously biased. And corrupt. And in league with the stupid Portuguese police. There is no need to prove it. It's a given. Mc Laren is innocent until proven guilty. Unlike Italians which are considered crooks until proven innocents.

I am appalled by the apparent cultural racism expressed by many of the comments in this forum

Andrea Rocci, Lugano , Switzerland

Tomorrow's going to be really interesting ... anything can happen, F1 is in the hands of the Brits but if they do not punish McLaren/Dennis on this everyone will lose.
As to the comments on impartiality, remember you're reading a British paper, if the roles were reversed they would be asking a ban for life!

Luc, Leighton Buzzard, UK

Even if only Coughlan had the ferrari tech docs it would be impossible for him not to use some of the detials in the McLaren F1 cars since he was the chief designer. Also due to his close friendship with Stepney apart from doc he would have got valuable updated technical info/race strategy of Ferrari which could have helped McLaren change there car performance or race strategy for there benefit. As a neutral fan I can under British reaction but we should not forget that Ferrari Classified Information was found with an employee of Team McLaren hence McLaren has to face the consequence for it. If any body denies then it would be like "caught red handed with stolen bank money but pleading innocence since they have not used the money". If Coughlan/McLaren did not want to cheat and play fair they should have refused to accept the ferrari doc or should have alerted ferrari team. We should also remind ourselves that no one is a Saint in this world. Ever team cheats. I rest my case

Deepak, India, India

God! who would want to steal Ferrari's specs... look at their performance. Mc Laren would use their specs to go slower!!

Nikhil Kapur, Bangalore, India

Does anybody know whether the F1 circus still needs a minimum of 11 teams? If so, McLaren will never be withdrawn from competition

Marc, Madrid, Spain

I would consider it strange if McLaren were found guilty of using illegally obtained information to improve the performance of their car and team, and then not dock points from the drivers who drove the cars. In my view, the McLaren car would thus be "illegal" and all points scored for the constructors and drivers championships would be null and void.

Henry G.K. Nyakoojo, KAMPALA, Uganda

But...Jonh...The only cries I saw.... I saw from Ron Dennis in Monza....

Nick, Rome,

Dear Ed, Ferrari are just a bunch of sore losers who can only beat McLaren's by making up complaints to the FIA. See how Ferrari were all crying when McLaren's beat them fair and square at Monza ,and even Lewis Hamilton overtook Raikannen. Ferrari should stop acting like spoilt children and get on with racing ,and maybe sometime they may beat McLaren's again.

John, Woking, Surrey,UK

If one of the lesser teams were involved this would'nt be given the time of day. Poor old Ferrari. Has Stepney owned up to sending the documents? It could have been the Ferrari bosses themselves afraid of the real competion. In the world on F1 with big money at stake anything is possible.

Richard, Portsmouth, UK

McLaren is a team of over 1000 people. I think at the moment the it is a case of a just punishment for the team, as certain individuals within did act against the rules. However to punish such a large team over a few incidents of misconduct especially when no information may have made it to the cars anyway would be unjust. I hope the FIA makes the correct decision tomorrow.

Andrew, Norwich, UK

In a stressing world where a single detail makes the difference, having the possibility to know what a contender did, and start your studies from that standpoint developing evolutions based on a known pillar is a competitve avantage everyone would like to have, especially if the pace was set from a first line squad.
The spy story is a lash being used against those (within the Ferrari's team) who have been working hard to achieve results while others where probably sitting @ their desk interpreting the job being done by others. Under this circumstances any merci for McLaren is unjustified, the offense done does not have an impact on this championship only but I believe the partecipation to the next year championship should be questionned & put in dubt. From the other side Ferrari's team have also to be punished & therefore this year's title shouldn't be assigned to the Italian squad. because they lack control over their employees & managers.

Flavio Siciliano, Rome , Italy

McLaren has already been found guilty in the prior hearing. What this new evidence will likely expose is the fact information was supplied much earlier that the discovery of the 780 page document and that many more McLaren management and personnel were in possession f the information. The value of such information cannot be assessed solely on the basis of Ferrari intellectual property being evident in the McLaren design. The real issue is the question of why did McLaren management not take action immediately it became aware of the fact Ferrari IP was being provided to McLaren team personnel. McLaren cannot offer any defense on this fact. It must therefore be assumed that the information was being used to better understand what Ferrari would do in its competitive efforts. This is clearly "an unfair advantage" and proves the case for sactions.

Les McNeill, Danville, US/California

As a designed, reading 780 pages of a blueprint, how can any one say that this info is then not, somehow, used on development of the McLaren cars?

Mirko, Utrecht,

I think some one should look at who is making the accusations and their reasons. It appears very much like sour grapes (or is that sour vino). Let the best season for a long time continue, without those who don't like others winning.
It would be a perfect ending to the season if the developing teams won the remaining races, without McLaren or Ferrari. Ban one ban both

Dave Bird, Barmouth, Wales

May be so, but tenuous was a complete understatement, if you ask me. They don't have any idea of the content of the calls or messages! And both have stated that they were looking at going to another team altogether. Couldn't the calls have been about that. The timing would be right.

Also, not sure the legalities of the 'authorities' sending information to FIA. FIA, and the FIA investigations are part of a sports business. If McLaren were claiming the opposite was true of Ferrari, I don't believe the British 'authorities' would sanction giving an independant body that kind of information.

If we're getting into country affiliations I do believe the Italian 'authorities' are leaning heavily towards aiding Ferrari in anyway they can.

Methinks a lot of bias there.

Paul, Toronto, Canada

The last time Mclaren or Mercedes won the championship was in 1998 ! This was also the first and only time for Mercedes since the championship began in 1958. And it turns out the current comeback coincides with the theft of the Ferrari design spec....
come on people! this is way beyond ridiculous now.....

Ferrari would do well to retire from Formula1. Having won from 1999 to 2004, the drastic rule changes at the end of 2004 were obviously designed to hinder Ferrari. Ferrari should perhaps have left back then already.... it would be insane now to put up with espionage and theft, knowing also full well what would have happened if the thieves had not been the anglo-german team...

Trevor, Bristol, England

Ferrari and all Italians would have been crucified by the British press if the opposite had happened.

Paolo Secondo, new york, usa

It is funny to see how the trial is in the press before the courts. All this is only benefiting the Ferrari team. Information leaks in Italian press (or is invented invoking poetic license..). And by the way Gerry from Naples how can you have a verdict? Didn’t you heard about innocent until proven guilty? Even in some dubious Mafia trials it worked in Italy, why not in a sport…
And I am not even Briton.

Andrei Kemeny, Waterloo, Canada

I just have a point to make. If we look at McLaren's reliability stats for past 5 to 6 seasons, every single season they sure failed to complete atleast one race; due to engine or chassis failure.. This season, NONE. Don't you think, McLaren might have gained some inside tech info to sort out or resolve those reliablity issues.. This shows clearly that they have used the info to gain advantage..

Syed Adeeb, New Rochelle, USA / NY

Wow, the FIA are once again demonstrating that they have a historical Ferrari bias. Why not drag Ferrari into the proceedings for letting their staff pass information across to McLaren? The FIA are after McLaren because a McLaren staffer received information I think it is apparent that nobody thinks Ron Dennis knew or used this 'illegal' information. Also, why was the original information passed across in a printed document? I'd like to know why this was not done electronically. My view is coming around to a hight level plot by Ferrari -they can't use Schumacher to cheat for them anymore, so they have found another method to 'win at all costs'

Nick, Newcastle, England

At the moment even the sender of the dossier is unknown as Stepney denies doing so and no one has proved otherwise. It is just as likely that Ferrari themselves sent it in the hope of later reporting McLaren for using stolen information. The fact that McLaren have not used any of the information shows it was either low grade or that they are honest. So why the big fuss? It now seems paople from different teams are not allowed to speak to each other and team mates can't email each other.

Steve, Bangkok, Thailand

It seems you can now be guilty by implication, Mosley a failed lawyer now FIA president for life really ought to know better!

This really has all the hallmarks of a vendetta by Mosley/Ferrari, one wonders what Ferrari corpuses Stephney will reveal the whereabouts of when he's cornered!

james Ryan, Birmingham, West Midlands

Given Ferrari's performance on the track this season it seems the only way they can contain McClaren is by making highly questionable allegations of cheating. If the supposedly 'stolen' technical information was so valuable, why have Ferrari not been performing this season? What was in the 780 page technical manual?

Ferrari's record of reliability this season has been dreadful! Massa's season is all but over and Raikkonen was simply outclassed by Hamilton at Monza, of all places! Had Ferrari been the leading team this season, these allegations would probable have never been made.

The FIA and all team principals, particularly those at Ferrari and to a lesser extent Renault, would do well to remember that the sponsors are attracted by the paying public and the behaviour of the Ferrari team both on the track and subsequently off the track this season is providing a good case for the paying public to simply ignore Formula One.

Donovan Wright, Reading, Berkshire

Accordingly with what reported on the "Corriere della Sera" citing police sources, Stepney and Coughlan were always in touch during the March-May period: at least 100 phone calls and 200 e-mails. Both phone calls and e-mails were more numerous just before, during and after the GP and test sessions. Following credit cards, it seems that the two met at least 4 times: 2 in UK and 2 in Spain. Accordingly with what reported by the "Corriere", the first e-mail citing Ferrari technological secrets was not by de la Rosa, but Paddy Lowe, McLaren chief engineer, who cites that
the information came from Stepney and Coughlan. Moreover, it seems that Coughlan testified that he reported to his bosses what he was dealing with. The evidences obtained by the Italian Police seem to confirm this.

Mauro, Bologna, Italy

Mclaren were found guilty without sanction and they will likely be found guilty again. The only difference is that this time they will pay the price for the fraud they have committed. Mclaren did not win a single race last year and now suddenly they are the class of the field. I also think you should stop blaming the Italian authorities, you and Mclaren both are starting to sound like every other criminal out there always blaming the system for prosecuting them.

Peter, Montreal, Canada

I think Ed's info isn't going to be impartial, as Lewis Hamilton and the new McLaren Alonso helped to create is the only good attempt to win the championship in the last years for the Brits. God save'em

Pablo, León, Spain

It would be incredible for anyone to think that Stepney could direct or influence race weekend decisions for the drivers or their engineers. If you take a dispassionate view, then Stepney has and will have dictated the outcome of the 2007 World Championship, to the benefit of Ferrari.................................

David N, Aldershot, UK

The evidence include details of what was said in phone calls and texts; according to others media, not only Italians, Senior members were aware of what was happening.

Enrico , Rome,

It is hard to believe that noone at McLaren got hold of the information outside Coughlan. Todt is right that it is enough for McLaren to know the strenght and weaknesses of their rivals to make it into an unfair advantage,
It is sad that it has come to this as the ontrack action was really good this year and I would not be surprised if McLaren were taken off all points and their drivers got a 20 points penalty each. I think what the FIA meant in its letters to the drivers is that they would not get banned from F1, but it does not mean that they won't get a points penalty. If McLaren used any information, then how can the drivers not have benefitted from it?

Michael, Tunbridge Wells, UK

So is Gerry from Naples saying that we should conclude that McLaren is guilty even though the evidence has not been examined? Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?? Ferrari (and their fans) just can't accept defeat, can they? What a shame! And shame on them!

Elias, Stevenage, UK

This is dogmatic reporting at the very highest.

OBVIOUS rather than tenuous. Edward, are you pro Mclaren/Lewis Hamilton? Hmmmmm......

sam smith, london, england

dogmatic reportng to mclaren

sam smith, london, england

I agree, I think is really bad for the sport. Mclaren should have been punished from the first moment they have found they had in their hand all this information. I hope the do the right thing now

mauro, bientina, italy

Gerry, Naples... I believe the term is innocent until proven guilty.

Ian, London, London

i think that this is not about nationality meaning that if you are italian you are with ferrari and if you are british mclaren is innocent.here we are talking about a beloved sport that is being ripped apart .we just have to wait and see its not fare for the sport to copy the hard work of another team (if that's the case).

andrea turano, london, uk

Dear Ed, when you'll finally talk about how much wrong and not honest Mc Laren and Dennis did in this case?? Stop defense the undefendible. Forget you're Briton, remember yu're journalist.

Gerry, Naples,