The decision to strip McLaren of all their constructors’ points and fine them £50m gets everyone out of the difficult corners they had painted themselves into. First of all, Ferrari insisted that McLaren had done a dastardly and illegal deed, choosing to ignore the fact that one of their employees apparently started the whole thing. McLaren, meanwhile, insisted that the Ferrari dossier had not permeated beyond a disaffected employee. The FIA had to do something, but was faced with the question of what to do with McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. This year’s championship was about to be torpedoed.

The sport’s governing body came up with the right verdict. The size of the fine is damaging and leaves no doubt about the guilt of the team, but the drivers’ championship has been unaffected. The 10 other teams see a competitor being heavily penalised, while benefiting from McLaren’s share of the 2007 constructors’ payout. And does the rest of the world care if McLaren are at the far end of the pit lane next year, or if they have three garages instead of five and their motorhome won’t fit in the Old Kent Road end of the Monopoly board that is the F1 paddock?

The FIA in this case is police, judge, jury and executioner, so it is duty-bound to demonstrate total impartiality. Not everyone is convinced about that. Judicial procedure must respect precedent, process and logic. Surprisingly, the FIA insists it is not obliged to prove that McLaren took advantage of the information they had at their disposal. We were notified of the decision and sentence on Thursday, before the FIA released a document on Friday outlining the case against McLaren. The team states that everything in it is true, but that the content is not significant compared with how information is generally gathered and utilised in Formula One. There is no doubt that McLaren have a case to answer, but I can’t see the smoking gun or the dead body. The penalty seems extreme. If McLaren had actively sought Ferrari information, or cloned parts were found on the McLaren car, then it should be “guilty”. End of story. Instead, it was about weight distribution, type of gas in tyres, race strategy. Now, I am a commentator, not an engineer, but I can give you most of that information every race weekend. With data analysis, the teams can tell you more than you could begin to understand about each other’s cars and strategy.

So who was it who spilled the beans? On the morning of the Hungarian Grand Prix, after he had been docked five grid places for blocking teammate Hamilton in qualifying, Alonso allegedly made various demands and threats to his team. He alluded to emails that could damage McLaren at the FIA – the same emails that subsequently cost them the constructors’ championship and £50m. The team decided to report the information to the FIA themselves. Own goal? Who knows? Alonso backed down and apologised, but I cannot see how he will be in the team next year.

There is speculation about whether McLaren will appeal against the decision or even go to the civil courts. Ron Dennis says he wants closure for the good of F1, but he must also suspect that he does not have a prayer on appeal. The McLaren boss is paying for politics and negotiations he has been involved in as far back as 1997 and has been warned that in any subsequent action the drivers might be penalised too.

During this process other teams might well have been found to have in their possession intellectual property belonging to rivals. This, along with outstanding issues of court cases in Italy and Britain and the gravity of the fine, may get swept up in a negotiated deal. Possibly including a driver’s contract.

We are at Spa, which is still magnificent, even if recent changes have robbed it of some of its individuality. Eau Rouge is now easily full throttle, and if they slide wide on to the run-off area at Pouhon, they lose a second, whereas we used to end up in hospital. The reprofiled Bus Stop chicane now looks as if it could be at any modern circuit. It will, though, create some overtaking, and there should be more overtaking down into the extended turn one hairpin.

Hamilton has to get on top of Alonso, who was rampant at Monza. The early signs are that the Spaniard quicker at Spa too.

Ferrari look to have a speed advantage here as they locked out the front row of the grid. The drivers’ championship is still very much alive.

Today’s grid

1 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1min 45.994sec
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:46.011
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:46.091
4 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:46.406
5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:47.334
6 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:47.409
7 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:47.524
8 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:47.798
9 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:48.505
10 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:46.603

TV: ITV1, live, today, noon, Highlights: ITV1, 10.45pm