On This Day in 2007: McLaren hit with record fine over ‘spy’ scandal
The team were found in possession of confidential documents belonging to rivals Ferrari but Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso escaped sanction.
Lewis Hamilton’s world title dream remained intact despite McLaren being heavily punished by the World Motor Sport Council for their role in the Formula One spy scandal.
Despite the protestations of team principal Ron Dennis, McLaren were stripped of all their constructors’ points for the season and handed a FIA record fine of 100million US dollars (£49.2million).
McLaren were found guilty of fraudulent conduct at the initial hearing in July, namely being in possession of a confidential 780-page document belonging to Ferrari.
Dennis acknowledged the existence of the emails but maintained that no advantage had been gained.
“The evidence was primarily email traffic between our drivers, and in one instance, Mike Coughlan,” confirmed Dennis. Coughlan was suspended as the team’s chief designer after being found with the documents.
“The WMSC received statements from Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Pedro de la Rosa stating categorically no Ferrari information had been used by McLaren, and that no confidential data had been passed to the team.
“Of course, the team had no knowledge of this email traffic at any stage.
“The issue is: was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today.
“I do not accept that we deserve to be penalised or our reputation damaged in this way.”