F1 governing body formally closes McLaren spy saga

LONDON: Lewis Hamilton's McLaren team can look forward to next season without the threat of a further points penalty after Formula One's governing body formally closed a spy controversy on Tuesday.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that its World Motor Sport Council had agreed to cancel a Paris hearing scheduled for February 14 to assess McLaren's 2008 car.

FIA president Max Mosley proposed the cancellation last Thursday after McLaren apologized for having Ferrari data in its possession and recognized that it had penetrated deeper into the team than suspected.

The hearing had been called after an FIA technical report raised suspicions that some of the systems in the 2008 McLaren design could be influenced by the leaked Ferrari information.

McLaren was stripped of all its constructors' points and fined $100 million this year for the spy saga and the February meeting had threatened to prolong the agony with the possibility of a further sanction.

The team, which saw British rookie Hamilton lose the championship by a single point to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, has offered to freeze development of the suspect systems.

Ferrari has meanwhile agreed to close the controversy on a sporting level but is to continue legal action against individuals in Italy and Britain.

The 2008 season starts in Australia in March.

Second controversy

McLaren was also involved in a second controversy when former champion Renault was found at a hearing this month to have had McLaren data in its possession since last year.

Renault, which failed to win a race in 2007, was not punished, however, because the FIA ruled there was insufficient evidence that the championship had been affected.

In a 77-page transcript of that hearing published on the FIA website (www.fia.com), the French manufacturer argued that the case was one of simple stupidity rather than any deliberate intention to cheat.

It denied gaining any advantage and said former McLaren engineer Phil Mackereth, who took technical information with him when he joined Renault, had acted for personal reasons.

"His actions in this situation were stupidity, naivety and a degree of recklessness - and little more than that," the transcript recorded Renault's technical director Bob Bell telling the hearing.

"There is no malevolence, there is no intention to deliberately do wrong or to cheat. That is not in his make-up."

Renault's lawyer described Mackereth, who appeared at the hearing, as being like "a rabbit in the headlights".

"He is a very unhappy, very guilty and very contrite man," he added."

Agencies

(China Daily 12/20/2007 page23)