Oliver White
The FIA World Motor Sport Council held an extraordinary meeting today at their Monaco offices, allowing Renault to put forward their case over the charges of holding intellectual property owned by McLaren. The data was held on floppy discs which engineer Phil Mackareth took when he moved from McLaren to Renault in late 2006. Renault are in breach of article 151c of the International Sporting Code which centres around bringing the sport into disrepute.
An extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council was held in Monaco on December 6th, 2007.
The World Council found Renault F1 to be in breach of article 151c of the International Sporting Code but imposed no penalty.
Detailed reasons for this decision will be issued on December 7th, 2007, and a transcript of the proceedings will be published as soon as possible thereafter. FIA Statement.
Earlier today Renault boss Flavio Briatore suggested that if found guilty, he would consider legal action against McLaren, the team who brought the charges forward. This case almost mirrors the scandal that embroiled McLaren during the 2007 campaign, and until further evidence was found they too had received no penalty. Renault also faced a similar fate today and escaped fine and Flavio Briatore seems okay with the decision
I would like to thank Renault, our title sponsor ING and all our partners for their wholehearted support during this sensitive period. I also wish to pay tribute to the team, which has handled the matter with integrity and dignity. We are pleased that we can now focus fully on our preparations for the 2008 championship. Flavio Briatore.
I am, to say the least, unimpressed. If the FIA had a real reason for its decision-making, then it would either have given the reason at the same time as the decision and penalty (or lack of same) or waited until it knew how to phrase the reasoning before giving out the verdict and penalty. This just rams home the political nature of this decision.
[…] On Thursday, the World Motor Sport Council met to discuss McLren’s claims that Renault had in their possession confidential data about their cars, componants and systems. The WMSC found the team guilty, but chose to not punish them, much to the delight of Flavio Briatore. Read more… […]