Yes, It is Cheating ...
Both the Sporting Life and the BBC have reported on the involvement of world champion Fernando Alonso in the McLaren/Ferrari spying debacle. The former have a fairly detailed transcript of an email chain between Fred and test driver Pedro de la Rosa, including de La Rosa’s statement that, “All the information from Ferrari is very reliable.”
It is obvious that Ferrari’s Stepney was providing McLaren’s Coughlan for an extended period of time and that more than just the design documents were being shared. Undoubtedly, the flow of information into McLaren benefited the team, if nothing else providing them with confidence in their decisions and continuous pressure to improve their own designs.
It will be interesting to learn more about Alonso’s involvement, and how much he benefited from the Ferrari data. Also intriguing is the revelation that Ron Dennis learned of his driver’s email communications during the Hungarian Gran Prix and reported the discovery to the FIA the day of the race – this may be further explanation of the poor relations between the team boss and the world champion.
The FIA will be publishing the full judgment next week after, “both McLaren and Ferrari have been given the opportunity to redact any confidential technical information.”
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