Motorsport Off Topic Thread

This seems to have completely passed me by. I wasn't aware of any legal fights between FI and Caterham?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98416

Interesting that when McLaren are found to have been illegally in possession of Ferrari's IP, they get excluded from the championship and handed the biggest fine in the sports history. Yet when Caterham are found to have been illegally using FI's IP, FI get 25,000 Euros and told to go on their way...
 
I guess they will be once they have some sort of info to investigate.

"What we will do now is refer it to the FIA in its totality and it is up to the FIA to decide if there is anything that needs to be taken further,"
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FIA can't do much until someone gives them something to go on, and don't forget at the first McLaren hearing they got away with it.
 
Silverstone makes no sense for a your drivers test. Its to early in the season for driver evaluation with an eye to seats for next year, and its also right in the middle of the season for all the lower formulas so its highly unlikely that many young drivers will be available.

What it is though, is an opportunity for the teams to get another mid season test in through the back door, and I guarantee that's what this is all about. Nothing to do with young drivers.
 
Skeeter said:
This seems to have completely passed me by. I wasn't aware of any legal fights between FI and Caterham?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98416

Interesting that when McLaren are found to have been illegally in possession of Ferrari's IP, they get excluded from the championship and handed the biggest fine in the sports history. Yet when Caterham are found to have been illegally using FI's IP, FI get 25,000 Euros and told to go on their way...
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It's Aerolab not Caterham. I'd recommend reading the case judgement. It's long and quite dull, but it covers what Force India claimed was a direct copy, and what was found to be close.

Caterham have been completely indemnified by Aerolab. In the court case Caterham and Mike Gascoyne were completely cleared. The €25k was set against the €850k that Force India owed Aerolab.

Aerolab offered an out of court settlement of €250'000 that Force India turned down. And apparently the legal fees that Force India will have to pay are around the £4 million mark.

Ooops. :D
 
So it sounds like its far more copyright infringement rather than industrial espionage, unless it known (and provable) how they got access to FI parts/designs in the first place?

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
ps3ud0 said:
So it sounds like its far more copyright infringement rather than industrial espionage, unless it known (and provable) how they got access to FI parts/designs in the first place?

ps3ud0 :cool:
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Aerolab were doing work for Force India, they didn't pay up. So were dumped. Some of the designers kept copies of Force India designs on their PC's and used them for reference.

Force India's case was hopeless though. Saying that some wing parts geometry were secret, when in fact they hadn't changed for 2 years, and last years part was for sale on a web site... *D'OH!*
 
Lol. Sounds like FI were expecting Aerolab to forget how to design formula 1 parts before being able to work with another F1 team!
 
So the whole comparison to Spygate is null and void? You would expect FI to have contracts in place to avoid ex-suppliers copying designs if in fact those designs are copyrighted/patented. Just sounds like that want to avoid paying their outstanding bill...
Spunkey said:
Yup, but that headline sells less papers/gets less website hits.
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And less knee jerk it seems...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17526861

Bahrain chief unable to guarantee safety for grand prix in April

The safety of fans cannot be guaranteed at the Bahrain grand prix, according to the president of the country's Automobile Federation.

But he called on F1 to help unify his country when the race returns in April - after it was cancelled in 2011.

"There are disturbances, and youths, who need to be handled in a proper and right way," Sheikh Abdullah bin Isa Al Khalifa told PA Sport.

"There are no guarantees. You could be anywhere, even Silverstone."
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If they can't guarantee the safety of the fans then they really need to can the race.
 
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