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After the spygate affair. Unlikely that he will actually serve the sentence though. Source:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/87071
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/87071
Nigel Stepney gets prison sentence....
- Thread starter GeezerButler
- Start date
Soldato
Well, there was no chance of that.
Nor is there any chance of Renault ever getting a proper punishment for their handling of technical data from a rival team. Or a proper punishment for ordering one of their drivers to crash into a wall.
Such is life.
Yes I'd like to see those banged up as well, Shame they can't put Dennis in prison as well. A beating for Pedro and a few lashings for Alonso would be fine by me.
Toyota as well got off we nothing.
There is no way you can punish a driver for taking a look at top secret data from a rival team.
If I were a driver for McLaren or any team and data from Ferrari or RedBull was being passed around a table, I would 100% take a look at that data and see what I could garner from it.
The world of F1 (and any sport for that matter), it is far too competitive not to attempt to gain any advantage possible.
Just to clarify: I don't condone the theft/transfer of top secret data from Ferrari to McLaren (and vice versa), but if the data (from a rival team), is sitting on my table, I can't see any reason not to study it.
Dennis has never admitted that he authorised or had knowledge of the fiasco. If he did authorise it though, then he should definitely have been (heavily) punished for it.
Who should be punished: the thief (Stepney) or his prospective boss (Dennis), who authorised and encouraged the theft?
Apart from the fact that Stepney wasn't going for a job at McLaren. Both him and Coughlan had a meeting at Honda - both turning up together.
Also, Coughlan gets off in your version of reality?
Wasn't Stepney courting a job role at McLaren? My understanding is that Stepney was wanting to move from Ferrari to McLaren, hence was feeding McLaren with information to show how committed he was to McLaren's cause.
What has Honda got to do with this? The problem is between Ferrari and McLaren with Stepney as the middle man.
The drivers weren't just looking at data handed over they were requesting specific details by email. How pedro was ever allowed near F1 again amazes me.
Toyota got away with atleast as bad dealings and Renault should have been kicked out.
No ones really cares though.
Toyota got away with atleast as bad dealings and Renault should have been kicked out.
No ones really cares though.
Stepney has been friends with Coughlan for many years - both at Benetton and Ferrari - kept in regular contact.
Stepney was passed over at Ferrari and essentially pushed aside. Not a happy person. So naturally, he started looking elsewhere.
March/April he and Coughlan started emailing each other - apparently it started with the moveable floor on the Ferrari.
Met with Nick Fry with Coughlan at Heathrow for a group deal on jobs.
At no point was Stepney after a job at Mclaren - him and Coughlan were aiming at Technical Director and Chief Designer at Honda
I hear what you are saying, but for a driver (or any employee) to make such a request, means that the flow of information was green lit by somebody high up (I'm thinking Ron Denis - though there is no proof of this and RD denies any knowledge of the entire incident). If the flow of information is green lit, then by all means the driver can make a request, but it is ultimately up to the informant (who in this case is Stepney), to decide whether he is going to steal the info and pass it on to the driver.
Let me put it this way, if I walk into a store, where my mate works. He has access to receipts on which there are many customer credit card details. I ask him, "Mate, can you give me those receipts with the cc details?" My mate must then decide whether or not he is going to co-operate.
If my mate says, "Yes, there you go, take them." Who is committing the real crime/offence - me (the requester) or my mate (the thief/informant)?
In my book, although I am encouraging him to commit the offence, it is ultimately my mate who is committing the offence - not me.
Yes, Alonso/PDLR (and probably someone high up at McLaren), did encourage/request for some information, but the major offender in all of this is the guy who passed on top secret info from Ferrari (his employers) to a 3rd party (McLaren).
If I was a driver at McLaren and Ferrari info was being freely passed around, I would definitely take a look at it...especially if the said information has been green lit by one of my bosses.
If this was the case, what was Stepney getting out of passing info from Ferrari (his employers) to McLaren (a rival team)?
What was in it for Stepney?
He was sharing information with Coughlan, not McLaren. There is a difference. it's not like Renault where lots of information was stored on the Renault servers. There was none on the Mclaren servers - FIA investigation showed that.
Sharing the information gets 2 guys running on the same page. If you're going to have 2 new guys working closely, designing the new car - best to know how the other thinks.
What was in it for Stepney? The technical directors job at another team, paying substantially more.
Personally always thought it was an internal thing for Ferrari to deal with as no-one actually "stole" the data (not like a break in, organised by McLaren, or pushing an engineer to one side at the track and getting "that" photo etc)
but as per the F1 merchandising deals (ie payments per championship points etc) Ferrari always get the best treatment, their direct rivals getting the sturnest punishments (and extortionate fines) from the FIA council, and yet when they break the rules - they barely get a slap on the wrist.
but as per the F1 merchandising deals (ie payments per championship points etc) Ferrari always get the best treatment, their direct rivals getting the sturnest punishments (and extortionate fines) from the FIA council, and yet when they break the rules - they barely get a slap on the wrist.
Soldato
