at school when you did something wrong but you confesed it, the you got absolution... maybe RD thinks he is at school

Javier, Cordoba, Argentina

From Spain with love:
¡Toma McLaren!

JAL, Gijon, Spain

Most people who have commented on this story seem to be taking McLarens statement at face value which knowing the politics of F1 at the moment is surprising.

McLaren need to move on, they need to have a car ready for racing in a few months. They need for 2007 to end and be resigned to the history books and start 2008 afresh. If this apology can pave the way for that then good. But all those calling for apologies from Martin Brundle and Jackie Stewart as though this apology proves Max Mosely are wide off the mark. This does not such thing.

McClaren have only done what every other team seems to do, It is part of all sports to try and gain competitive information. McClaren never stole it, they were given it by a Ferrari employee, the same employee who admitted he received info from McLaren - where is that investigation?

Ron Dennis has proved himself to be the bigger man and done this for the sake of the sport he loves. Get off his back everyone and look at the bigger picture.

GM, Brisbane,

well mr brundle how about ypour apology

Mclaren are cheats

No witch hunt

they cheated

shane, somewhere, the world

I'm confused to why Renault didn't get fined 50 million and docked championship points for next season.

Jonathan Williams, Winchester, Hampshire

The phrase "witch hunt" has never been more appropriate

Much like a witch in a ducking stool, Mclaren have been forced into a situation where they are damned either way.

If they don't "apologise" they have no guarantee of racing next year, or competing without a handicap, or attracting new sponsers (which they urgently need).

If they do "apologise" they have no grounds to question the Renault decision, or the ridiculous technicalities the Fuel appeal whitewash floundered on, or the issue of the lack of transparency or democratic standards in FIA decision making.

Anyone who takes this statement at face value is nothing but the latest victim of FIA bullying and jackboot rule.

James, Stourbridge,

Sorry but am I missing something. It is racing and racing is about winning. Getting information either from photos or looking over a competitors car is normal in all motorsport. Insider info is out of order, but if you could gain an advantage over another team you take it. It is not about fairness it is about money and glory. I have seen guys from one team pour over a component from another team if they can get up close to see what has been done. I have been involved in motorsport for 30 years and it has always happened, just like night follows day. The rule book is only a starting point and exploiting the rules is the fun part of motorsport. OK they got caught with inside info...OPPS! But even that has always happened. Look at Ernst Degner and Suzuki helping him escape East Germany. They did not get him out to be nice they did the same as McLaren! They wanted info to win races!

Tom Gunn, Banbury, Oxford

So - use of CO2 as a tyre gas is a secret Ferrari innovation? Hardly. Aston Martin used inert gas (nitrogen) at Le Mans and other races from the mid 1950's to 1963, when they ceased racing, primarily because it's safer.

But that's a detail. If anyone doesn't think that gathering information about your opponent in any sport isn't an intrinsic element of competition, just as it is in war, they are extraordinarily naive.

Keith Dixon, Calgary, Canada

What's amazing to me is that McLaren had said they conducted an internal investigation and that things weren't as bad as the team now admits. Unless I'm missing something, their investigation didn't involve asking people about their knowledge/involvement or people were asked and lied through their teeth. Either way, monumentally shameful.

bob hough, san jose, USA/California

It was inevitable when the FIA postponed the verdict on next year's car to February. Basically the FIA has just kept raising the stakes with Maclaren until the point when Maclaren just had to back down and pay the ransom. What would you do if you had no idea as to whether you would be able race until a couple of weeks before the 1st race of next year. And obviously Ferrari would be shouting from the rooftops if the new Maclaren trounced everyone in pre-season testing, i.e. lets wait and see how fast the car is before giving Ferrari chance to protest against its legality.

So really Maclaren had no chance, now guys lets just get Heikki in the other seat and go racing.

Simon, Macclesfield,

From the headline I thought it was Steve McLaren who decided to make the grovelling apology

Burning Man, Black Rock City,, NV

and now what? dear mr Gorman, Brundle; Stewart, Hill...when you'll apologize too? try to read back all u write about witch hunt and staff like this. Ron Dennis your chief, apologize and admitted. And you stay...RIDICOLOUS...

GERRY, london,

Ron Dennis should be kicked out of F1, he thought his pride was bigger than the sport and dragged the whole circus in this mess. He has to take responsibility for what he did and do the only honourable thing: leave McLaren, Mercedes should take over. And the likes of Stewart, Hill and Brundle should finally admit that they were wrong, and apologise for the comments they made.

I feel sorry for the guys working for McLaren, they have been cheated by their bosses, McLaren has lost its credibility and it will take a very long time for them to regain it.

Ross, Milan,

Max Mosley has far too much power for the good of the sport - and McLaren had no choice but to "apologise"!
Martin Brundle and Jackie Stewart don't need to say any more than they already have --- Good luck to McLaren and Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen in 2008.

Elias, Stevenage, UK

Lets be honest. If you stripped all the paintwork, decals and advertising from all the cars, you wuld be hard pressed to identify which team was whom! Ferrari and Maclaren have over the years invented or devised about 50% of the technical equipment found on all F1 cars. There has to be a sense of proportion to all this.

Jonathan Mills, Brighton,

I agree with Patrick and wander if Mr Martin Brundle and his ITV colleagues will do the same and apologies for what they have said about Ferrari, both in these columns & on ITV-F1 for the past 9 months.

P Guarino, Bury, UK

When dealing with a complete dictatorship like the FIA , how else can McLaren try to ensure next season does not continue this total travesty of justice. My full support is with McLaren.

Ted Rowland, Mottram, Cheshire, England

I wonder what Jackie Stewart now has to say about this latest apology from Maclaren, seeing as he was so insensed that the WMRC was conducting a witch-hunt against Dennis and Maclaren. Hopefully he would do the right thing, eat crow and apologise to those he slandered at the WMRC.

Patrick, vancouver, canada

Had McLaren shown this sort of sense of sporting propriety and new-found humility in March this year, ALL of the horrid nonsense that has gone off track could have been avoided.

The sheer volume of now clear duplicity, obtuseness, and outright fraud conducted not just by Stepney but by senior engineers and management must surely embarrass the legions of rent-a-quoters and high profile British f1 commentators who stuck by McLaren. They have been made to look like utter fools.

One of the few that can hold their head high is indeed Ed, who never let anti-Ferrari bigotry get in the way of reasoned and incisive comment on McLaren, their lies, and their poisoning of the 2007 championship.

Thank goodness Kimi and Ferrari won the titles in the end, anything else would have been a travesty.

Aaron James, Fulham, London

And now what, is it still FAs fault to hand over the spy info to the FIA?

Pet, Dubros, Hungary

This (rather late) apology will not help them in the ongoing Italian court case

John, London,