Based on today’s decision of the FIA World Council:
• The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team has been found
to be in breach of article 151c of the F1 Sporting Regulations
and to have therefore behaved in “a fraudulent manner
and therefore in a manner prejudicial to the interests of
competition or motor sport in general,”
• The World Council has nevertheless decided that,
in the absence of any definite proof that information that
is the property of Ferrari has been effectively used on the
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes car competing in the current championship,
it can impose no sanction without further evidence. Ferrari
notes that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has been found guilty
by the FIA World Council. It therefore finds it incomprehensible
that violating the fundamental principle of sporting honesty
does not have, as a logical and inevitable consequence, the
application of a sanction. Today’s decision legitimises
dishonest behaviour in Formula 1 and sets a very serious precedent.
In fact, the decision of the World Council signifies that
possession, knowledge at the very highest level and use of
highly confidential information acquired in an illicit manner
and the acquiring of confidential information over the course
of several months, represent violations that do not carry
any punishment. The fact that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was
in possession of such information was discovered totally by
accident and, but for this, the team would continue to have
it. This is all the more serious as it has occurred in a sport
like Formula 1 in which small details make all the difference.
Ferrari feels this is highly prejudicial to the credibility
of the sport. It will continue with the legal action already
under way within the Italian criminal justice system and in
the civil court in England.
|
