A Draconian Penalty
- September 13th, 2007
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An extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council was held in Paris on 13 September, 2007. The following decision was taken:
“The WMSC has stripped Vodafone McLaren Mercedes of all constructor points in the 2007 FIA [tag]Formula One[/tag] World Championship and the team can score no points for the remainder of the season.* “Furthermore, the team will pay a fine equal to [tag]$100m[/tag], less the FOM income lost as a result of the points deduction.
“However, due to the exceptional circumstances in which the FIA gave the team’s drivers an immunity in return for providing evidence, there is no penalty in regard to drivers’ points.**
“The WMSC will receive a full technical report on the 2008 McLaren car and will take a decision at its December 2007 meeting as to what sanction, if any, will be imposed on the team for the 2008 season.”
The full reasons for this decision will be issued on 14th September 2007.
*Points gained by other teams so far this season will not be affected.
**No McLaren representative will be allowed on the podium should a McLaren driver win in any of the remaining races of the 2007 season.
The FIA is out of control, leveling a $100 million fine again [tag]McLaren Mercedes[/tag] because one of their engineers was in possession of [tag]Ferrari[/tag] technical documents. If this isn’t evidence that Ferrari can do no wrong in F1, I don’t know what is… Why has Ferrari not been brought before the council for allowing the sport to be brought in disrepute? It was their engineer who started this whole mess in the first place.
Ron Dennis, who has never shot from the hip in his life, had this to say…
Ron Dennis is about the only public figure that I would be giddy to meet. He values integrity and honour above everything else and lives to race much like Patrick Head and Sir Frank down at Williams. The penalty will sting but money is never an issue at McLaren.
I’m sure a McLaren appeal with be forthcoming. I just hope it doesn’t get the team booted out of the 2008 championship, whish is a very real possability. Look up draconian in a dictionary and you’ll see the FIA headquarters…
Read about this but didn’t really know the scope of it – thanks. Why is whole team punished for the engineer’s indiscretion? Can’t they tell if the stuff was used or not?
Listened to him – good speaker.
Pure ridiculousness. The WMSC doesn’t even have to answer to anybody so they rule with an iron fist. It doesn’t seem like a year can go by where there isn’t some drama conjured up by the WMSC or the stewards or a tire manufacturer or Ferrari.
And I doubt highly that the drivers points were kept because of compliance on the driver’s parts. Imagine if they took McLaren out of the Driver’s Championship. What would be the point of the rest of the season. Everyone would return their tickets. It would be a HUGE loss to the finances of the sport. And given the 100M fine they must really need money badly (insert sarcasm here).