Did FIA break rules with McLaren F1 fine?

hmm interesting if this is right does that mean that JT and BE have already been voting on issues that they are not allowed to vote on according to the statutes and founding rules. It sure seems to be the case if the article is right and they will have done their homework on it first.

I wonder how much real behind the scenes back stabbing goes on and i think it maybe is the right time for a breakaway series all you need is a few of the top teams to pull away and more will follow. Ferrari will not but if the others leave who have they got to race against

Nothing would surprise me anymore

yeah whatever.

is that enough to acquit McLaren?

do their crimes reduce?

this can only do bad for the sport.

well I think that the fine was incorrect and illegal, I think both McLaren drivers should have been disqualified from the 2007 season and McLaren should have been banned for at least the the first few races this season if not the whole season!! I will always think McLaren got off lightly in the spying case

Gotta love that picture of BE and JT. Kind of sums F1 up.

When I saw the title I did think "not this again". But it would be pretty amusing if the FIA broke the rules to decide on a suitable punishment for someone breaking the rules. Two wrongs don't make a right and all that.

While McLaren are no less guilty of the crime, something needs to be done if the FIA acted illegally. Mosely made a big deal of having to punish McLaren and rules and rules, well they made their own bed, maybe they will need to get in it.

Yet again F1 looks like a joke... well it doesn't look like it anymore, it is a bit of a joke.

When have FIA ever bothered about rules when it comes to attacking McLaren. Hand McLaren the money back and points removed in the past couple of seasons.
FIA b disbandd and then should be reorganised over the winter on a fair basis with agreement from all the F1 teams not just Ferrari.

And that means Max the Perv will be out and all the Ferrari insiders.

Well Giz, at the same time you have to look after the sport. They would have been as well handing the WDC and WCC to Ferrari at the start of the season if there was no McLaren, it would have been utterly tedious. Ferrari would be out in the front and Kubica wouldn't be even close to sitting on top of the points table as he was in Canada as there would be no McLaren to take points away from Ferrari.

Re: Comments by Giz & sarang.

Check out Renaults punishment for a similar offence. That's right there wasn't any punishment, even though they were found to be guilty.

I love equality

READ the article FFS. Todt didn't even vote! It's only Bernie. But still, this could well be true. Of course, one crucial question is had there been a majority for the fine even without Bernie's vote? If so they could just scrap his vote, which was illegal, have a recount and THEN all of a sudden the verdict WOULD be legal again. Maybe. Or maybe it doesn't work that way. I'm no lawyer. But for me, that's what would decide. Anyone know if it was a single vote majority or not?

And on a side note, I think it would be really good for F1 if the ever cursed McLaren team DID win the WC this year, their fans are getting waaaaay too bitter and frustrated.

Well Lets put it this way when micheal drove into damon in Aus to win the championship nothing about dangerous driving, when micheal drove into jacque in spain nothing when micheal finished first in the pits the rules were changed and they gave it to him mosley dont like Ron Dennis they should make the rules stick to the rules and not change them and people would like that not change it when they feel like it the FIA are a joke

Well I believe the story is about the McLaren fine and whether it was fair, I believe Renault should have had the same punishment as per my comment above

This would be funny

The sooner Max and Bernie f off the better
F1 wouldn't be where it is today without them but they seem to believe they are bigger and more important than the sport. Its all so political know and even after a great race the off track antics start to steal the headlines ffs.

this is only a "report" and suggestion, in one newspaper. are we to believe that it is 100% true? maybe the FIA will respond. however, sometimes slips in procedure do occur and EL HAMILTRON is probably correct in pointing out that it was only ONE vote. from reccollection, the vote was almost unanimous in the imposition of the fine. after all, mclaren WERE found guilty of having and using confidential info from another team! Mclaren did not like the penalty but they and merc accepted it, so where is the problem? that was last year, this is this year!

It' not as simple as that rich. Sure it's only a report, a rumor, whatever, no one is arguing otherwise. And I don't think anyone is arguing over weather McLaren were guilty. It's over the credibility of the FIA, again...

If there was any wrong doing over what was a huge and substantial fine it needs to be investigated in the same way McLaren had to be investigated. If McLaren hadn't been busted until this year would you still say to forget it as it was last year?

foo, probably, as long as there was no ferrari intellectual property in use this year. if there was, then a punishment for THIS year would be apropriate

richard

should the fact that Ferrari, as well as virtually all other F1 teams, are using McLaren registered IP THIS YEAR (J-damper) without consent mean they should all be punished?

Rich,

Ever thought that maybe, just maybe, McLaren and Mercedes did NOT actually accept that the fine was fair but knew that if they argued the point then the drivers would have been disqualified for the season as well? I vaguely remember (I know I'm getting old and my memory isn't quite what it used to be) that Somebody (Max or Bernie??) said that the fine/punishment would be harsher if they did dispute it,

Grand Prix - when MS hit JV in Spain he was DQ'd from the entire season. This is the harshest penalty I can remember any driver receiveing. You can't blame Schu for winning a race in the pits. The Brittish stewards should not have waited until the last couple of laps to enforce a penalty that happend before the race even started. When MS was penalized for blocking in Monaco he was put to the back of the grid. This year the Mclaren drivers have been penalized for blocking three times in qualifying and have yet to be placed at the back of the grid. Try to get your facts straight before posting.

If the FIA rules were not followed last year the Mclaren lawyers should have caught that.