Ferrari's F1 "sabotage" scandal - may be something to it!

Aerkuld · Aerkuld's Garage

Maybe there is something to this story as ridiculous as it sounds. According to this news story...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6264904.stm

...McLaren may now involved and a memeber of there team appears to be on 'Gardening leave' after receiving a package of technical information from Ferrari.
I can't imagine why someone would do this unless there was large sums of money involved, which is quite possible but difficlut to explain without some fairly high level knowledge. As someone mentioned before F1 is a fairly tight knit community and everybody knows somebody. This sort of skulduggery wouldn't stay secret for long at the best of times and is sure to finish off a career.
The only thing I can think of short of a major lapse of judgement is that Mr Stepney has been stiched up good and proper.

sammyg2 · 07-03-2007, 02:19 PM

If McLaren admitted that one of their recieved the technical info, there has to be something to it.
Bunch of boys playing grown men with unlimited budgets, it doesn't suprise me that they can't play nice.

ErVikingo · 07-04-2007, 11:56 AM

So that's why they were fast....

Conspiracy theorists rejoice !

Joeaksa · 07-04-2007, 01:36 PM

Its all over the newspapers here in Europe. Wonder how it will pan out?

450knotOffice · 450knotOffice's Garage

I suppose McLaren could possibly be sanctioned heavily and possibly forfeit some or all of their wins.

Matt Holcomb · Matt Holcomb's Garage

If it turns out to be true, it's a great out for Alonso once he wakes up to the fact he was actually recruited to be Hamilton’s wingman.

You can’t tell me that Ron Dennis didn’t know exactly what he had in Hamilton. Dennis isn’t the sort of man to leave things to chance.

Jeff Alton · 07-04-2007, 09:23 PM

So, for the first time in years F1 gets ALMOST interesting enough to watch, there has to be a scandal??.......... Pass the nuts.

No, I don't care to watch the parade...

Cheers

M.D. Holloway · 07-04-2007, 10:09 PM

for sure - don't trust anyone with money or power

MFAFF · 07-04-2007, 11:31 PM

The real story is not that one team had information from another.. but that they got caught. Do we really imagine that in the business each team does not have a very good idea of what the others are doing, information obtained thro fair means or foul?

Too much is at stake here to not use all means to understand more about what the others are doing.....not necessarily to copy it, as the basic parameters for each car are too specific as to make details untransferable, but to gain knowledge of strengths and weakness in certain areas and hence advantages your car may have over others and to exploit that further.

That is also serves Ferrari's purposes to remove Nigel Stepney, if other rumours about his desire to move to Honda are to be believed..no gardening leave to pay and at a salary of $750K pa its a bit of change.. plus you manage to explain away the poor performance and deal a blow to the main opposition... All part of the big picture and entirely consistent.

Joeaksa · 07-05-2007, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MFAFF
The real story is not that one team had information from another.. but that they got caught. Do we really imagine that in the business each team does not have a very good idea of what the others are doing, information obtained thro fair means or foul?

Remember a couple of years ago when Schummy won a race, jumped out of his car and whilst walking by the second and third place McLaren he was caught by the camera's squatting down to look at something that caught his eye on their cars? He sure was not looking at the paint job, but something that they had done that he wanted to know about so they could possibly use it on their cars.

Its been done for years but this recent case may have been a bit over the top and they got caught.

MFAFF · 07-05-2007, 03:52 AM

Ypu,

That was blatant.....and knowing MS deliberate.
He had the mind game perfected...not only had he won, with a certain ease, but he was still fresh and alert enough to do some more work at the end of it....

I don't think it any more serious than it was before...just got caught...perhpas to suit somebody's agenda?

Ho hum....

Aerkuld · Aerkuld's Garage

Of course it's normal behaviour if F1 to do a little reconnaissance, or 'reasearch' trips up and down the paddock, and there is nothing wrong with that. Team will see something on a competitors car and try to find out how it works. They may try to duplicate it and run it on a test or in the wind tunnel to see if it would benefit their own car. Again nothing unusual or wrong with that. But to send a package of technical information from one team to another? Like I said before, I just can't imagine how a situation like that would arise, let alone be discovered. I don't want to be the conspiracy theorist here - but I will be anyway - it just makes me wonder how someone would find out about this and tip off McLaren to find the very person to whom the information was sent. Plus Mr. Stepney not getting the job he wanted, potentially looking to move to another team. It's a great way to ruin someone's reputation. It just seems a bit too...urm...convenient.

MFAFF · 07-05-2007, 04:28 AM

Aer...

I think 'normal' and F1 do not belong in the same sentence....

However I think it goes a little beyond a little recon down the pit lane....

Some well known examples of acquiring information...openly...

1) Scanning for the telemetry frequencies and getting direct down loads...even with frequency agile transmitters it was being done...talk about getting it from the horse's mouth..

2) Using high speed video cameras with associated sound recording equipment to record the engine note.. this can, with good analysis reveal the exact rev profile of the car and its max power and rev limits...not necesarily the power...

3) Stereophotography... get a decent 3d image of the car and recreate it in amodelling software to get a virtual model you can then run with CFD.

All of this is legit....as its done, in the open....however its like an iceberg....

There are tow 'natural' solutions to this situation...
a) He did send stuff to McLaren and he got caught...but this makes little sense...
b) In the scheme of things it benefits one team greatly....both in real terms of getting somebody out of the way, it detracts another team's attention, and it casts doubt on the individual.

Both are possible...