November 08, 2007

My Stars and Garters...

On December 6th, 2007, there is going to be another meeting of the WMSC.  Unlike last time, when McLaren was fined $100 million dollars and excluded from Constructor's Championship points despite a large lack of concrete evidence, this time around it appears that there might just be some proof involved.

Except it's not McLaren on the chopping block.  It's Renault.

According to the announcement, Renault is accused of possessing information on "the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren F1 car, together with details of the McLaren fuelling system, gear assembly, oil cooling system, hydraulic control system and a novel suspension component used by the 2006 and 2007 McLaren F1 cars".



Please note the dates involved: 2007 and 2006. 

The FIA is seriously up a creek now.  With their ham-handed evisceration of McLaren, they set a precedent that they now have to live up to: exclusion and severe fining of Renault upon guilt.  Please note that this means that there's quite a good chance that they could have their 2006 Constructor's Championship revoked.  I wonder if anybody in the FIA noticed that Ferrari was second that year?  "Gosh, really?  Hm, fancy that."

Here's what it comes down to: if Renault is found to have had all that data in their possession (and there was a 'raid' on their HQ by FIA investigators recently), they can either penalize the team... or they can turn a blind eye to it.  They do the former, and they damage the sport.  They do the latter, and they kill the sport's credibility altogether.

If the latter does occur, McLaren is going to scream bloody murder, and the lawsuits will fly thicker than a Minnesota snowstorm... and y'know what?  They'd be right to do so.

Duck and cover, lads.  It's gonna be a long couple of months.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:46 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1

The first thing that came to mind was:  "Can't we all just get along?"

(After that whopping fine and the revokation of their constructor's points, I hope McLaren lands on all concerned with both feet.)

 

 

Posted by: Mallory at November 09, 2007 07:53 AM (3sife)

2 I think there's a degree of justice in this, of nemesis coming after hubris. At this point I don't see how the sport can avoid taking a few hits below the waterline.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at November 09, 2007 07:39 PM (+rSRq)

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