13-Dec-07: McLaren Apologise to Everyone for Espionage
Hello everyone, this is F1 Minute for the 13th December 2007.
McLaren have written a letter to the FIA apologising for the Ferrari information scandal, and offering to hold back any borrowed technologies from the rival team. The inspection of McLaren’s car found that some ideas, such as the gas in the tyres and the quickshift technology appeared to have come from Ferrari. McLaren say they will not develop these technologies, they have given a public apology to basically everyone, and offered to pay the inspection costs incurred by the FIA.
Also in the news, a lighting system by an Australian company has been submitted to the FIA after a secret night test by Mark Webber. He was joined by a former motorcycle champion last month for the test, and the results have shown the system is immune to blackouts and casts no shadows. If the FIA approve the lights, Australia could very well be hosting their own night race along with Singapore.
And your final bit of FIA news, Max Mosley has said that if the new aerodynamic rules in 2009 do not cut cornering speeds, then teams can forget about slick tyres returning to the track.
That’s all for today, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
a.k.a. the Blue Orange Lion on Thu, 13th Dec 2007 21:58
Weird! What happened there? McLaren apologise!? Maybe grandprix.com will offer some kind of logical explanation?
Christine on Thu, 13th Dec 2007 22:17
I know, it seems very out of character. Especially because Ron has been defending McLaren since the word go. Now he’s all: “I’m sorry, let’s move on.”
I’m pretty sure there’ll be a Sidepodcast blog entry along these lines soon
me on Thu, 13th Dec 2007 22:21
21 pages of redacted information? anything but “soon”, lemmie tell ya.
shaun on Fri, 14th Dec 2007 11:08
slick tyres : I’ve just read the little side bar in Autosport about Max Mosley warning that he will throw a wet blanket on the slick tyres in 09 if he thinks it will make the racing more excit…ahem…i mean, ‘more unsafe’ so as i said in my blog on the subject : The teams have just got to use a bit of subterfusion regarding how fast they can go on these slicks in testing and we might get to see at least one or two races in 09 before Max ‘high viz jacket’ Mosley puts the ky-bosh on it.
Maybe someone could distract him when a driver puts in a high-speed-corner maneuver round the outside of another driver for the lead by informing him that a spectator is committing the heinous crime of…filming the race with a camcorder!.
Christine on Fri, 14th Dec 2007 16:16
Shaun, I love that comment. Imagine teams trying to go slower just so that can get the tyres they want. Awful business.