Fate Of McLaren Hangs In Balance As Verdict In Spy Scandal Case To Be Announced Today
Sep 13, 2007
McLaren
Formula One leaders McLaren could see their season wrecked when allegations it used leaked Ferrari documents goes to a hearing Thursday at motorsport’s international federation FIA.
Coming just three days before the Belgium Grand Prix and with three races remaining afterwards, Formula One fans may seen the outcome of an exciting season come to a premature end. Volker Gundrum, BangkokPost.com
Many people involved in the sport feel that the council might go so far as to disqualify McLaren from the season, which would shatter Lewis Hamilton’s dream season. The star rookie currently leads the championship.
As a team, McLaren has been dominant. Hamilton and Alonso are leading in the points. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari’s top driver, is in third with really only a mathematical shot at the title. Richard S. Chang, NewYorkTimes
Lewis Hamilton has been asked by Ron Dennis, the embattled team principal of McLaren Mercedes, to play a key role in the team’s last-ditch attempt today to avoid heavy punishment over their role in the Formula One spying scandal.
McLaren will appear before the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris this morning to answer new allegations that they have cheated this season by using technical information stolen from Ferrari. Edward Gorman, TimesOnline
Lewis Hamilton conceded to being “relaxed and confident” ahead of Thursday’s latest hearing into the spy scandal.
McLaren star Hamilton, who currently leads this season’s Formula One world title race, opted to lend his support to embattled boss Ron Dennis one a crucial day for the team in Paris. Ian Parkes, SportingLife.com
The Ferrari mechanic at the centre of the formula one espionage scandal, Nigel Stepney, had several hundred email and telephone exchanges with McLaren’s chief designer, Mike Coughlan, this year and the traffic between them was particularly intense in the run-up to grands prix, according to a document crucial to today’s motor sport world council hearing. John Hooper and Alan Henry, The Guardian
The governance of Formula One as much as McLaren is on trial today. The sport’s regulatory body, The FIA, via the auspices of the World Motorsport Council, must deliver a just outcome. No less a figure than Sir Jackie Stewart has expressed the view that the prosecution of the case against McLaren has acquired the flavour of a witch hunt. Kevin Garside, Telegraph.co.uk
