You all know the deal by now, $100 million fine and McLaren erased from the 2007 World Championship.
Without knowing the substance of the evidence the only comment that can be made as fans is to accept the compromise of not taking Alonso and Hamilton's points away. Their championship season will always be followed by an asterisk and will be argued that drivers should not be allowed to to keep points won with cars deemed illegal. With this compromise, but at least we'll have racing this week end. The FIA took care it's own interests and the huge commercial interests tied to the remaning races and the future perception of Formula 1.
All and all though, a dark day for fans.
PS: Interesting comments about the financial impact of the fine in this Q&A with Dennis and Whitmarsh on Autosport.com
UPDATE: Read the FIA's findings on the case
Alonso could seem to care less about his team, but hamilton is the big loser. The headline for the 2007 season should have been the best rookie season in the history of the sport, but instead the headline will it's biggest scandal. Sucks.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the constructor's championship is decided by a court really speaks to the over-corporatization of F1.
And hey, if ron dennis steps down around, say, late next year, I know a certain texan who has some experience with both pro sports teams and large, duplicitous organizations that will be out of job around then. Just sayin'.
Yeah it sucks that this played out in court but it equally sucks that it also played out with Mclaren having access to the full tech specifications of Ferrari.
ReplyDeleteAnd about the drivers, they knew this was going on yet said nothing until they were pressured by the FIA....so much for sporting morality. If you wanted to clear the air, they should have been penalized as well.
To top it off, nobody really gives a damn about the Constructor Championship and a Mclaren driver will win the WDC in 2007....you see, it's not quite as bad a punishment as it first seems to McLaren.
So once again it's about the money of course, not "the sport"