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Hamilton could be thrown out of next year's world championship

2K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  ifari 
#1 ·
Hamilton could be thrown out of next year's world championship

Lewis Hamilton could be thrown out of next year's world championship after Formula One's rulers found evidence of Ferrari designs being used on the 2008 McLaren car.

The FIA's World Motor Sport Council had hoped to draw a line under the sport's most contentious dispute at their meeting in Monte Carlo yesterday, but instead decided to call McLaren back before them at a special hearing on February 14.

Such is the significance of the data collected during an inspection of the British team's Woking factory — a process undertaken by high-powered technical and legal experts at a cost of up to £1million — that Hamilton must endure an agonising wait to learn his fate.

Although he and former teammate Fernando Alonso were not penalised in September when McLaren were fined $100m (£49.3m) and thrown out of the constructors' championship for using Ferrari secrets, FIA president Max Mosley yesterday confirmed that Hamilton would not escape sanction if the case is proven.

He said: 'If there is any negative finding about 2008, and it is a very big if, it will apply to everybody, the drivers and the team. It would only be based on their unfair advantage.' McLaren insisted that 'no confidential information has been incorporated within the team's 2007 and 2008 cars'.

The FIA have informed McLaren boss Ron Dennis which aspects of next season's design they think could be derived from the information exchanged between sacked Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney and McLaren's disgraced chief designer Mike Coughlan earlier this year. If the car is found to incorporate elements based on leaked data, McLaren will have two months to remove the offending material from their prototype car. Doing so could save them from a penalty, or at least minimise it.

But tinkering with the design is a potentially huge blow to their, and Hamilton's, on-track performance.

Mosley said: 'Under the sporting code anything is possible, from no action at all, through to a reprimand, through to exclusion from the championship.'

McLaren are desperate for 'closure' after a damaging few months, yet their troubles appear endless, with a picture emerging of them as incompetent at best and deeply corrupt at worst.

Nor will the furore help Hamilton, who attended last night's FIA gala dinner here, win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award tomorrow, though there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on his part.

McLaren's supporters will claim that Mosley is merely pursuing a personal vendetta against Dennis.

He is angered by the accusation and yesterday announced that the FIA are suing ITV commentator Martin Brundle for describing their conduct as a 'witch-hunt' in his Sunday newspaper column.

Mosley and Dennis are not friends, but that should not hide the fact that McLaren have repeatedly been economical with the truth. They originally claimed that only Coughlan knew about the Ferrari dossier, only for it to be proven that the information was disseminated much wider.

And two weeks ago, in a leak to the press, they fabricated the extent of the classified McLaren information in Renault's hands in the second F1 spy row of the year, which went before the council on Thursday.

Mosley added: 'It is pure speculation whether the leak was an attempt to make the Renault affair look comparable to the Ferrari affair because the 780 alleged drawings was pure fiction. To put it bluntly, it was a barefaced lie.'

While McLaren's smearing of Renault is inexcusable, it remains bizarre that Renault were deemed guilty yet not even fined a penny.

After all, the engineer in question, Steve Mackereth, took 11 floppy disks when he left McLaren for the French manufacturers, including four drawings which were viewed by his Renault colleagues.

Admittedly, as yesterday's disclosure of the full findings showed, the espionage was not on McLaren's grand scale, but how can the FIA fail to levy any fine or dock points? For Hamilton, there may be no such reprieve.

Hamilton could be thrown out of next year's world championship | the Daily Mail
 
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#2 ·
FIA has 'good reason' for McLaren delay

FIA president Max Mosley says the sport's governing body has 'good reason' to recall McLaren for a fresh hearing early next year to examine the legality of their 2008 car.

McLaren had hoped to get the green light for their MP4-23 at last week's hearing of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), following an examination into the design to ensure that no Ferrari intellectual property had been used.

However, the WMSC decided to delay delivering a verdict until another scheduled meeting on February 14, 2008 - where McLaren, Ferrari and other teams will be allowed to make presentations

Although the exact reasons for the fresh hearing have not been specified, Mosley has hinted that something cropped up during the FIA's investigation of the 2008 McLaren.

Speaking in an interview with Auto Motor Und Sport, Mosley said: "It would be unfair of me to speak currently about the case. We would gladly today have liked to end this unfortunate chapter, but there was a report that makes a second hearing necessary.

"Believe me, if we let 26 people from around the world fly in, then we have good reasons for it."

Mosley said that McLaren had been made aware of the issues that will be discussed, and suggested that there was plenty of time for them to react to the matter before February.

"McLaren were informed early on about our doubts," he said. "They have sufficient time to react, should the doubt be confirmed."

And in the wake of some criticism about the varying penalties handed out to Renault and McLaren for spying charges, Mosley has once again insisted he has not been biased against McLaren and team boss Ron Dennis.

"I do not have a problem with Ron," he said. "I only want to hear the truth if we have to solve an internal problem. During the World Council meeting on July 26, I did not have the impression that he told us the truth."

autosport.com - F1 News: FIA has 'good reason' for McLaren delay
 
#4 ·
Not gonna happen! LH is too much a darling, very talented, I was a fan until I heard he cussed out RD. Someone of whom I am NOT a fan but none the less, you don't do that.
FA just signed a two year contract with his old buddy FB at Renualt, $51+ million.
 
#7 ·
While in the past I have not been a big fan of NASCAR's arbitrary and capricious rulings, at least they seem capable of addressing a problem straight forward, adjudicating the issue and moving on. Everyone knows where they stand. [note the Car of Tomorrow issue appears to be the exception but that is NASCAR vs everyone, not a team cheat]

This current F1 deal is just amateur night follies.
 
#9 ·
while i think that fernando is a cry baby...he was the reigning world champion going into the 2007 season. THAT in itself should have team support which includes a ROOKIE team mate to play the critical role in on-track/pit stop strategy.

hamilton, to me, displays zero team player behavior. yes, he is definitely a talented driver...but so is massa. to me, he is the ultimate team driver. he takes orders like he is suppose to. he doesnt 'pretend' to be a nice guy and then go subvert his team mate.

as the reigning champion, fernando showed 'some' poise throughout this very frustrating season for him. i can see why he felt that he wasnt get team support. what 'might' have been his downfall was to publicly 'question' the support crews commitment to his winning another championship...that sounded 'selfish' to me.

then as i watched the season end, with the question IF fernando was going to stay with mercedes, the commentator said that HAMILTON will not race with fernando. sorry, that is VERY disrespectful to say about the REIGNING world champion.

he may win most of the F1 world with his svelte english accent, his practiced smile and self imposed false sense of composure...but, imo, he is a fake...an incredible driver...but nonetheless, a fake. he will most likely go on to win a world championship(s) but winning without honor, to me, isnt really winning. just ask barry bonds!
 
#11 ·
Chicken Chumpion.




Sounds like you don't know what you are talking about, except for Alonso being selfish, you speak nonsense, not good sense. Falonso WAS champ, now and in '07 he was/is a competitor like ALL other drivers. No free rides! Calling LH fake. Bollocks! He is the REAL deal in case you haven't noticed! Tough times don't last, tough people do! Lewis has been a winner most of his sporting life. He demonstrated skill and talent and confidence to state to Ron Dennis that he would like to race for Macca one day and lo and behold he does it! Winners compete to win and only win, and will rule out any sandbagging so some whinging spoilsport can have an easy go! Alonso is a bitch!
Get real and maybe go and compete in something other than giving your opinion on what constitutes honorable behaviour. Where is the honor in running from a rookie who happens to be faster than you? Where is the honor in asking a team to sanction the rookie and then attempt to blackmail the team if they don't stoop as low as you? Alonso is so low, he could crawl under a snake with a top hat on! Talk about subversive behaviour! He's not just a bitch, he's a scandalous bitch! There is no honor left for THAT fake! Those were the actions of an ignoble and unhappy paper chump. When the going got tough, Falonso ran away like a chicken sh*t mofo! Team behaviour??? Oh yea, that's good teamwork. NOT! LOL
Falonso will be a footnote in the history that Lewis Hamilton will and has made as the BEST rookie EVER in the history of F1 to date! THAT is an HONOR that not even the haters can take away!

BTW...I see the phenomenal LH has also put the smack down on Schumacher and Kimi in Spain this week. Too bad for the paper chump FA. Renault was down in 7th and beyond. What a moron to have been so petulant and leave Macca when faced with REAL competition. Yea, that's the chumpion of chicken sh*t losers. An honor Falonso deserves!
 
#10 ·
They'll find something if they want to.
Even if it would be some aerodynamic piece with a similar curve than the ferrari...
My guess is they are just making clear that situations as last year are definately unacceptable.
It'll be a lame season without mclaren.
 
#16 ·
So you've been here then :thumbsup:

F1-Net Cafe is pretty good just to catch up on F1. I must admit, it was like a religion to me when MS was racing. My world came crashing when he retired:crybaby2:

He's been gifted one of the man made islands in 'The World', he's bought some stuff on Jumeira Palm and now get this. . . . they are building 3 towers here. . . .Nikki Lauda Tower, Boris Becker Tower and Michael Scumacher Tower. Now that REALLY is cheesy! talk about cashing in:rolleyes:

Did your nephew do the karting event at the Autodrome?
 
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