Espionage at Ferrari and McLaren

[monkeyboy1976]

Whats all this about. Bit worrying.

http://www.f1technical.net/news/6161

[Principessa]

I don't know if sabotage is the only thing that affects the pace of Ferrari. They found the powder before the Monaco Grand Prix....it was found on the 21st, so time enough to clean the fuel tanks and clean it all out. I don't think it affected the performance of the team during the Monaco GP.

[Militia Est Vita]

http://www.f1technical.net/news/6161

Ohh come on!! so what? BMW, Renault, Williams and ALL other teams were sabotaged as well having ALL finished more than a minute behind the McLarens? Nonsense.

IMO this is a Ferrari witch-hunt cruzade because of the recent weak results in the last GPs.

[Principessa]

Well....I believe they found a powder, otherwise they couldn't give it to the judge. But the sabotage has nothing to do with the performance of the team at this point. I believe it has more to do with the development strategy of the Scuderia.

[dumrick]

But it sure is serious stuff that they are pointing their fingers at one of their top technical guys in these last few years: Nigel Stepney. Apparently, he was not satisfied anymore to be on the team and wanted a sabbatical year, like Brawn. Now, if it was Brown hiring him (he was previously at Benetton), maybe it could be a factor for Brawn not wanting to return to the Scuderia.

I find this all very strange - it looks like a Mafia-style vendetta. And, since we are talking about Ferrari, that could be the case.

[FLC]

You don't file an official criminal complaint against your own employee just to make a good excuse for 3 relative poor race results.

Stepney is supposed to be the head of team performance development ,so he might got something to do with the current state of the F2007. If he actually tried to sabotage the cars, it might have been more than just the powder. It is also reported that when he offered himself to other teams he said he would bring with him a bunch of other key role employees, so you could never really know how deep the team and the car has been effected. He could well be just the head of the snake.

All in all, if this is true, and I believe it is because otherwise Ferrari wouldn't file a complaint, they could just sack him, we as F1 fans should be disgusted at any person, within or outside the sport, that is willing to go as far as sabotaging the equipment and putting life at risk.

[Militia Est Vita]

After doing some research on various newspapers it seems that indeed I was wrong and this is some heavy stuff. I have to agree with you FLC, putting someone's life at risk is quite messed up! If this guy was seriously thinking about departing to other team I wonder if after all this he is going to have any chance at all in any ither team. Pretty serious stuff.

[modbaraban]

You don't file an official criminal complaint against your own employee just to make a good excuse for 3 relative poor race results.

That's right. Ferrari mostly keep all problems 'inside'.

[manchild]

Powder? Perhaps someone was smuggling cocaine inside of fuel tank and it got spilled... and people wondered why the "white line" in Monaco isn't white but yellow... perhaps Schuey did it to make Kimi look worse driver and retake his place... it all fits!

[Tom]

OK, here's my opinion, you're not going to like it, esspecially you MC

This is all bulls#it, I have read so many autosport reports and autobiographies featuring Nigel and I have never heard a bad word against him, he was a huge factor in the dominance of Ferrari over the past few years, he is one of the main reasons the Scuderia went entire seasons without a retirment for at least one car. He steered Benneton to world championships not many years ago, if there were anyone in the sport less likely to be sabotaging their cars it would be Enzo himself.

I have complete faith that Stepny will be found inocent of all charges (assuming their is a real case against him!) and it will be a huge misunderstanding.

Just think how a story like this would shake the team though? and in a year when they're already under so much pressure? and which known rumour spreader will gain most from Ferrari's downfall? MC?

[jddh1]

I believe there's a reason why Ferrari has pressed charges against him, especially considering how Ferrari likes to keep things under the rug. I mean, they're going to a public judge to figure out what's going on.

As far as Ferrari's performance drop, I think it has to do more with the fact that their wind tunnel has suffered a malfunction and they're still trying to fix it.

[DaveKillens]

There has to be a lot more to this story than we are priviledged to be informed about. It's difficult to believe a man with Stepney's credentials would do something so blatant and stupid.
Stepney, who has a Ferrari contract until the end of 2007, said in February that he was open to offers from rival teams after expressing unhappiness at management changes. The rumours of his problems at Maranello are probably more to do with negotiating the terms of a new contract while at the same time seeing what is available back in England.
So all of a sudden, a former key player in the most successful racing dynasty suddenly is accused of placing some weird white powder in fuel tanks at Monaco. Then a Ferrari spokesman informs a French news agency of these charges .... wtf? A very specific and selective news leak, most likely designed to spread as much disinformation and damage as far as possible.

Now, if it was a powder placed inside the fuel system, just what could it be for? To rob power? Naw, on the first installation lap the engineers would see telemetry engine parameters that would red flag everything, and the car would be immediately brought back to the pits and everything checked, including the fuel. To render the fuel outside the legal parameters as specified by the FIA? To foul the injectors?
There are many factors to consider. Stepney's probable departure from Ferrari, Ferrari's fall from dominance, and Ferrari's handling of this affair all combine to place a huge question mark on everything. Maybe he did, maybe he did not, but right now the only word that rings between my ears is "scapegoat".

[Militia Est Vita]

IMO this is a Ferrari witch-hunt cruzade because of the recent weak results in the last GPs.

So I wasn't that crazy after all . Still I beleive this will harm Stepney's career pretty bad.

[jddh1]

we'll just have to wait and see I suppose. the only thing is that it will take forever for a court to be thorough in this case. and by that time the silver arrows would have probably won the title (unless alonso does a tania harding on hamilton)

[Ciro Pabón]

White powder? Could it be contraband by some smart employee, instead of sabotage by another disgruntled employee?

I mean, I live in Colombia, and every time white powder is found we KNOW is not to block the injectors, unless somebody is injecting it himself... I don't know how strict F1 is with car checking at customs, since the last contraband was discovered, many, many years ago.