Espionage at Ferrari and McLaren

[DaveKillens]

Industrial espionage, one of the more sordid aspects of Formula One.
So far all I have seen are accusations, denials, and some search and seizure of alleged Ferrari property. It's just too easy to jump in with an uninformed opinion at this very early stage of the saga. Name-calling, accusations, slander, and ruining of reputation may follow, but I personally prefer to give all the benefit of the doubt and wait until the final verdict is announced. You can't prove guilt in a message board, just add to the confusion.
Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

[manchild]

Not my work but fits the subject

[ss_collins]

Espionage - F1 technical staff - I feel like I'm writing for Janes Intelligence Review rather than Racecar Engineering, especially after we used some spies recently ourselves - got us one HUGE scoop - nothing to do with this though.

[Tom]

And apparently it's Mike Coughlan from McLaren. Autosport, Gazzetta dello Sport and Bild say so on their websites. He does have a bit of a history with Nigel as they have worked together in Lotus 84-88, Benetton 91 and Ferrari 93.

Perhaps they were just chatting over coffee

OK this is believable, I don't doubt there is alot of truth in Stepney trading information with Coughlan somehow, although I wouldn't dare say how deep it was, maybe it was anything more than Ferrari tyre pressures.
Anyway now the journalism has all died down I think I should write to Gazetta de'Italia or whatever and tell them the police have searched ss_collins house where they discovered top secret information on each team in the sport, aswell as LMS, ALMS etc and they suspect he's trading information with everyone! No doubt they'de believe it!

[checkered]

Details, details ...

... http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns19356.html ... but perhaps important ones. This may indicate that the teams will settle out of court and the general F1 fandom will never know exactly what all this was about. Which might be just as well for all concerned. If all parties agree that whatever happened was pretty much inconsequential, discretion is just as well. The storm over this won't subside just yet, though, the story is just too "juicy".

[Benniau]

Has Mclaren used Ferrari ideas on their car this year?

[IMG:500:266]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/B ... nygate.jpg[/img]


I know.... I'm not that good at photoshop. Hell I'm a Mclaren fan but I still had to do it!

[West]

There's a rumor going on that the data exchange included sneaking in Kimi Raikkonen.

[modbaraban]

There's a rumor going on that the data exchange included sneaking in Kimi Raikkonen.

I'm not even sure that he heard anything about the Stepneygate at all

[manchild]

[Rob W]

It just occurred to me that McLaren might have protested Ferrari's flexi-floor because of Mike Coughlan's knowledge of Ferrari's car.

Imagine... you study their car and find the rule boundaries they've pushed and just keep the info to yourself - doshing it out when you need to protest the other team and unsettle them.

That way, you wont haven't incorporated any of their technical info into your own car (no liability there) but have still used it for material gain. And the opposition can't really complain you've 'outed' them bending the rules because they'd just be confirming their own attempts at cheating.

Rob W

[manchild]

[Tp]

...and Honda.

A third team is being dragged into the Ferrari-McLaren espionage affair - Honda.

The German specialist publication Auto Motor und Sport now reports that, in addition to McLaren, Ferrari veteran Nigel Stepney had also offered classified team data to his colleagues at the Japanese team, but they turned him down.

It is additionally rumoured in the Silverstone paddock that both he and McLaren's suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan intended to defect to Brackley based Honda, and that the Nick Fry-led outfit intend to clarify their position with an official statement later on Friday.

Auto Motor und Sport says the sacked Stepney and Coughlan were trying to pool information and also proposing to bring a group of engineers to Honda, who were targeted as a struggling but well-funded operation that could offer high profile and highly paid jobs.

It is also suggested that McLaren's managing director Jonathan Neale tried to prevent the affair from exploding by asking Coughlan to destroy the stolen Ferrari information before it had been copied or used or fully analysed.
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Looks like you might be right Rob

[pRo]

Auto, motor und sport also tells how...

According to them, Coughlan sent his wife to a commercial copying store to make digital copies of Ferrari material and the copying store personnel told Ferrari about it.

[manchild]

Honda says they informed Mclaren and Ferrari team bosses after NS and MC offered them secret data.

"Nigel Stepney subsequently met in June of this year with Nick Fry and brought with him Mike Coughlan of McLaren, with a view to investigating job opportunities within the Honda Racing F1 Team.

"Honda would like to stress that at no point during this meeting was any confidential information offered or received.

"Nick Fry informed Jean Todt and Ron Dennis of the meeting and has offered to provide any information required by Ferrari and McLaren."

"Three team principals discussed this situation this morning," he said. "Again it creates in some ways more clarity.

"I want to be very correct in this process. The first thing that I did when I first learnt of this problem was to phone Jean Todt. The second was to phone [FIA president] Max Mosley, and from the beginning we have been cooperative.

"We immediately brought independent people into the company to analyse and go through a process.

"I feel that as much as the reputation of McLaren has been challenged - and in some instances, all instances, unfairly challenged - the important thing is to set an example and to behave in a very correct way.

"I can give a full and detailed understanding to everybody about what has happened over the last few months, but it is just inappropriate. The way of the world is that all the truth comes out.

"Probably the thing that I have learned more than anything over the last few days is how fast people are prepared to jump into severe criticism of McLaren when it has had, certainly in the last 20 odd years, an impeccable reputation in every aspect of how it conducts its racing team and how it conducts its business affairs."

"Over the next 48 hours there will definitely be more information available to people and some of that will give a better insight into motives and what lies behind some people's actions.

"But it is not for me to criticise. We will let things unfold.

"This is all being conducted under civil law and therefore there is no police involved. But this does not mean that it does not follow a proper procedure.

"Too many people are quick to jump and criticise, and effectively condemn, but as in most things in life the truth will come out. I doubt there will be many apologies, afterwards but the truth will come out."

[janus]

well some one was a point about the flexi floor maybe is was what append every team in f1 bends the rules but only the top team are spoted because they are on top. If last year red bull used the dumper system of renault no one had done nothing about it or if any team like toro rosso or skyper user flixe wings i dont see any one complaning.

Being on top is hard and everyboy that is not liked to be there so this type of games are nothing new same thing diferent story. I dont see any one upset about spkyer complaning against toro roso or the redbull that have a design like the mclaren because of adrian N.

Last year flexi wing,shumacher in monaco,mass dumper this year flexi floor,espionage, costume cars you got tu love f1