Post by Kasey Kagawa

I’ve already made my feelings on the 2007 F1 season abundantly clear, and the fallout of the stupidly-named “Stepneygate” scandal is the final nail in the coffin for this farce of a season.

After a couple weeks of it looking like it was just a couple guys in McLaren working on collaborating to create a engineering team that would be hired by another F1 team, emails between Hamilton, Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa, the third McLaren team driver, show that they had knowledge of the technology that was leaked from Ferrari to McLaren. The three testified in front of the FIA regarding emails specifically requesting information regarding the current Ferrari F1 cars, showing that they knew that Mike Coughlan and Nigel Stepney were exchanging information regarding the technical specs of the Ferrari car, such as weight balance, aerodynamics, and braking system. In response to this evidence, the FIA has stripped McLaren of their points in the Constructor’s Championship, while Alonso and Hamilton keep their points in exchange for their testimony. The McLaren team has also been assessed a $100 million fine, minus whatever amount McLaren would have won at the end of the season if they hadn’t been caught cheating. This penalty pretty much guarantees Ferrari the Constructor’s Championship, making the rest of the season a foregone conclusion. At least ALMS is good this year.

Full text of FIA World Motorsport Council decision [Grandprix.com]