McLaren Mercedes Off the Hook

McLaren Mercedes was found guilty of having confidential Ferrari information, but the team was not punished because the World Motor Sport Council could not find evidence that the team had used this information on its car.

This was really the only decision I think the FIA council could have made. If they ejected the team from the championship, I am certain that McLaren would have a more than reasonable amount of material with which to appeal the decision and quite possibly to make life quite difficult for Ferrari in return.

Still, I sigh relief to see that the right decision has been made, because the integrity of the championship has been. Personally, I don't think this ever should have gone to the FIA. Ferrari's last spy scandal involved former Ferrari engineers who went to Toyota and they were actually accused of using Ferrari intellectual property on the Toyota car. The men were taken to criminal court and found guilty of industrial espionage - although they appealed. The FIA never dealt with that case, never penalized Toyota. Of course, Toyota was not winning as McLaren is.