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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Drivers Await Racing Spy Scandal Ruling

They're calling it 'Ferrari-gate' - the motor racing espionage scandal that threatens to shatter Lewis Hamilton's Formula One dream.
The sport's disciplinary body will today decide whether Hamilton's McLaren team broke the rules when its chief designer was found to have secret information belonging to their Italian rivals.
Mike Coughlan has now been suspended but McLaren could still be docked points or even expelled from the championships.
The row over the 700-page dossier of technical information now extends to a criminal investigation in Italy, civil proceedings in London and the FIA's hearing in Paris today.
Ferrari has accused its former chief engineer Nigel Stepney of leaking top secret designs. He denies it.
McLaren says only Coughlan knew of the dossier and that it has acted properly.
But the FIA's charge against the Woking-based team accuses it of "unauthorised possession of documents and confidential information... that could be used to design, engineer, build, check, test, develop and or run a Ferrari formula One car".
No one alleges McLaren used Ferrari ideas but some argue that knowing a rival's car so well would assist any team.

Racing legend Sir Stirling Moss told Sky News: "The potential of it is as bad as doping in the Tour de France. If points were deducted it would be quite appalling. One thing I am convinced of is that the drivers wouldn't know about what had gone on."
Those drivers may suffer though, as may their team's reputation.
Mark Gallagher, who was once a designer for F1 team Jordan, said: "Ron Dennis, the boss of the McLaren team, has been very emotional about this. He runs a team which has got an unblemished record and very high standards.
"I think McLaren want to get to the bottom of this because they want any cloud or threat of cheating to be lifted away from them, and I think that is what partly today is about."
But how much damage has already been done to the image of Formula One?

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