It was more or less one employee who got caught out. The series races exclusively on street circuits. This is not like it was something that hadnt happened before. From race 6 in Canada all the way to Brazil Alonso trailed Hamilton and he needed a miracle in China and Brazil for him not to lose the Championship to Hamilton, which he absolutely should have done, in all reality. Promoted content from around the web | Become a RaceFans Supporter to hide this ad and others. "The problems had started before," a source says. Even Alonso played a role in the spygate but not Lewis. But I do think such things are normal in F1 only in this case they actually had a very very good source. Edit - yes downvote, that'll . Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were team-mates at McLaren - one brand new to the sport, the other brand new to the team, whom he had joined right after winning two consecutive world championships with Renault, and ending the dominance of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. And Alonso is certainly a great one too, but he got screwed by Ron Dennis without a single doubt, just like Alain Prost once got too back in the day btw. The relationship was not good before, but that was like the complete divorce. Hamilton is a great driver, theres no doubt about that. Regardless of which driver was your favourite, this was ultimately the rivalry we all wanted to see from 2007 onwards, and sadly we saw too little. Now Alonso, too, was furious. When Ferrari found out, it only confirmed the suspicions they already had about Stepney. I believe Honda wanted Alonso when McLaren used their engines and paid most of his wages.
Sum on Twitter To what extend is it proven Alonso was aware of the Renault 2008 McLaren are . A coroner recorded an open verdict on his death. bosyber (@bosyber) 18th March 2020, 17:19. Hamilton v Alonso Formula 2 is considered the foremost single-seater feeder series to Formula 1. Former F1 designer Mike Gascoyne recounting how he stumbled across the two main protagonists in the story having a meeting in a Barcelona restaurant; A senior Ferrari figure describing the "bomb" that went off inside the team when the scandal first came to light; Insight from lawyers involved in the hearings; An exclusive interview with Flavio Briatore - confidant of Fernando Alonso and Renault team boss at the time. To: Pedro de la Rosa. Though because its not new, we cant just forgive it.
Alonso had emails from De La Rosa which made it clear that McLaren had confidential Ferrari documents. It is the subject of a new podcast series produced by BBC Sounds. The most famous IndyCar race is the Indianapolis 500, held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in front of huge crowds. If they didn't, he said, he would hand over emails pertinent to the spy case to the FIA. I cant wait to see the fan reaction at the race this weekend. That set up a relationship between Mercedes and Brawn, who were running hand-to-mouth, struggling for income and heading towards collapse as the season went on. I bet his fan base has been halved overnight. Brawn was the obvious vessel but McLaren, as exclusive partner, still had to sign off on the arrangement. Last updated on 17 November 202217 November 2022.From the section Formula 1.
McLaren supremo Ron Dennis: Spygate controversy is behind me and DNC Emails Are Hacked. Dennis wanted to sack Alonso on the spot.
2007 Formula One espionage controversy - Wikipedia However Alonso appeared to be incredibly jealous of rookie Lewis.
Fernando Alonso "shouldn't have been blamed" for Spygate All this information was exchanged when The Ham was using his setup Now we know why his setup was so much better! Challenger, champion, change-maker: The real Lewis Hamilton story, And when Dennis mishandled his two drivers after they finished one-two at Monaco - Alonso ahead, having led the race throughout from pole, Hamilton believing he had been denied a fair crack air trying to beat him, and not troubling to hide it -. Alonso threatened to reveal potentially incriminating emails to do with the 'spy-gate' case. As for whether the fine was fair, I think most people would agree it was a disgusting abuse of power by the man in charge of the FIA to settle personal grievances. Hamilton left the garage first and was at the head of the queue waiting to go out at the start of the session, with Alonso behind. 2023 Collantine Media Ltd | About RaceFans. By 2008, with Champ Car on the bring of collapse, the two series finally merged, but the damage had been. The all-electric single-seater racing championship was set up by the FIA in 2014. The FIA asked de la Rosa, Alonso and Hamilton to hand over any relevant e-mails on the understanding that they would not be punished if they did. Will they be able to keep their places in the team after this? Pedro de la Rosa feels Fernando Alonso was unfairly blamed after his alleged role in the Spygate scandal which led to McLaren being punished with a hefty $100m fine and exclusion from the 2007 World Championship. Had they brought him in earlier, he would have been champion that day at the end of probably the greatest season by a rookie in history. StefMeister (@stefmeister) 18th March 2020, 15:18. If he hadnt delayed Lewis in the pits at Hungary he could have finished higher in the race. Fernando Alonso (ESP), McLaren Mercedes leaving the circuit with Pedro de la Rosa (ESP), Test Driver, McLaren Mercedes - Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 12, Turkish Grand Prix, Sunday Podium - www.xpb.cc, EMail: info@xpb.cc - copy of publication required for printed pictures. McLaren being fined an unprecedented $100m and thrown out of that year's constructors' championship. I dont think we saw the best of Alonso in 2007, but its up to the drivers to adapt to the equipment theyre given, so I wont use it as an excuse for 2007, but I do think prime Alonso was much better than 2007 Alonso. On April 12th, the Thursday before the Bahrain Grand Prix, de la Rosa contacted Coughlan asking for further details: 12 April 2007 at 12.25 Nah, SIS are part of the Foreign Office, MI5 is Home Office and the military dont do spies. De la Rosa later sent an email to Alonso describing Ferrari's weight distribution, to which Alonso replied on the same day with an email that included a section headed "Ferrari": "Its weight . The release of Alonso will be very difficult, Dennis does not seem pleased at all And the championship, do you seriously think Dennis is going to let Alonso walk away with it?
How much did Lewis Hamilton know about spygate in 2007? Had he not done both or one of those things he would have been champion, frood19 (@frood19) 18th March 2020, 19:32. That led to a second 'spy-gate' hearing, which re-analysed the claim that McLaren had benefited from secret Ferrari technical information. The relationship was not good before, but that was like the complete divorce. Blackmail, secrecy, and the offence that gave it its name - spying. Fernando Alonso took pole after holding up McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the pits so he could not get out for a final qualifying lap. This conferred a double advantage - it would not only give him a lighter car when he did his final qualifying run, but also more fuel for the first stint of the race.
But what Alonso said next ensured on the spot that he would have to leave the team at the end of the year. So it was unfair in the way that Fernando was blamed for something that I dont think he did. Ron Dennis can shed more light on this topic. At least he didn't ask his team mate to drive in to a wall for a safety car (this time). The employee at the desk smelt a rat, emailed Ferrari, and that was the beginning of a series of explosive events that led to McLaren being fined an unprecedented $100m and thrown out of that year's constructors' championship. McLaren's solution to this after the controversy of Monaco was to ensure both drivers had equal fuel loads for their qualifying runs - and to alternate who had the favourable race fuel strategy. So equal. He called in Martin Whitmarsh, his second in command, and asked Alonso to repeat what he had just said. So how to decide who got to choose the optimum strategy? I dont believe anyone would say no to this information. Never mind some of Hamiltons fans, what they write does not have any more meaning if they do in or not. He was shouting on the radio, asking why Hamilton was not letting him by. The stewards deliberately chose not to make a decision, citing an ongoing arbitration case between Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Spyker, but nobody did ever explain what the head of Spyker was doing walking around with a set of blueprints from another team. Among the evidence revealed by the FIA after McLarens penalty was announced was extracts from a series of emails involving De la Rosa and Alonso in which they discussed the information McLarens Mike Coughlan had obtained from Ferraris Nigel Stepney. Get the latest results and headlines sent straight to your phone, find all our Formula 1 coverage details with our Live Guide, sign-up to our newsletter and learn where to find us on online. But same goes for Hamilton, probably more so. Mosley saw this as an opportunity to inflict harm on Dennis so big that it might drive him out of the sport. Alonso told Dennis he needed to right the wrong Hamilton had caused him the day before. The championship reached its peak in the late eighties and early nineties under the sanctioning body CART. Hamilton did not supply any emails, de la Rosa and Alonso did. Mashiat (@mashiat) 18th March 2020, 14:56. Alonso had 0 to gain out of it, Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta) 18th March 2020, 21:46, @kuvemar It was worse than that. After the race, Alonso shook Dennis' hand and apologised in person for what he had said at the meeting that morning. Fair play to Ron Dennis for then going to the FIA himself and admitting it too to avoid being blackmailed. 10 - fkqmz - have you actually read all 5 articles? "@MercStrategies @ebark133 @pitlimiteron He knew about SpyGate and offered to cooperate with FIA's investigation, probably in exchange for not getting excluded from the drivers standings, Alonso did the same but got lambasted for being "disloyal". Until 1984 the championship was an open series for manufacturers of different chassis, engines and tyres. And everyone seemed to blame Fernando for something that we didnt know and we have zero evidence that he did. In Hungary, it was Alonso's turn to have priority. One of the big discussion topics was the infamous 2007 Spygate saga. Do these guys not talk in person? So it was it was unfair in the way that Fernando was blamed for something that I dont think he did. Until 1984 the championship was an open series for manufacturers of different chassis, engines and tyres. And, until now, exactly what Alonso said to Dennis in that fateful meeting has never become public. You also have the Spyker-Toro Rosso/Red Bull case in 2007 as well. (Wikipedia can tell u the full story). Whoever your favourite driver is learn to love their rivals too, without great rivals there is no show! Dennis asked Alonso to stop talking.
Alonso happy to uncover 2007 'spygate' . The exchange between Alonso and de la Rosa played a large role in incriminating the team. He joined Honda at the end of 2007. @stefmeister see the reply above. @slowmo Ive always felt the fine was fully justified if for no other reason than to show that what McLaren did wouldnt be tolerated. You can be sure of one thing, had Ferrari been caught, they would not have received a fine of that size if at all. Before the race, drivers were allowed to refill their tanks with the amount of fuel used on the 'fuel-burn laps'. In Silverstone, he gained 25 points, so Monza 21 is cancelling nothing." If they didn't, he said, he would hand over emails pertinent to the spy case to the FIA. Turned out it was Dennis last cockup. Truth is a lot of the facts are hidden from us. It comes from Nigel Stepney, their former chief mechanic I dont know what post he holds now. The fact the FIA knew about it raised many questions over who had passed this information to the FIA. To: Fernando Alonso. Spygate. 'He tried everything to win with Ferrari', Alonso, Vettel and a nice box of chocolates - how Alonso left Ferrari, Comparisons with Lewis Hamilton & what makes Spaniard an all-time great, Hamilton's father Anthony went to see the stewards and lobbied hard for Alonso to be punished. For Brazil Alonso then needed Hamilton to have a completely bizarre gearbox shut of for 40 odd seconds for him not to lose the title to his rookie teammate. Of course, this is nothing new I am sure. McLaren accused the double world champion of revealing sensitive information. That situation was like a divorce inside the team, De la Rosa told the official F1 podcast, Beyond the Grid. But Lewis started it. It convulsed Formula 1, nearly broke one of its most famous teams and, seven years after its conclusion, the man at the heart of it died in unexplained circumstances. Bio, did Alonso always have the heavier fuel load? So it was the divorce point, because he was looked at someone that had damaged McLaren.. In 2016 when Hamiltons title was gifted to a far inferior teammate Lewis sucked it up and drove to the title in 2017 without making a single mistake all year till he got it. In acting in an exclusionary way and refusing to share data, youd basically want Alonso to adopt an approach which would potentially actually be counterproductive for his own performance. Until 1984 the championship was an open series for manufacturers of different chassis, engines and tyres. Fernando Alonso says he was 'very happy' to help Formula 1's ruling body, the FIA, uncover the spy saga that hit the sport in 2007. . They then drove around doing what were called 'fuel-burn laps' before setting the lap times that defined the grid. But was it 100 million worth? But Mosley says that is not true. As soon as the cars had left the pits, the team radioed Hamilton to let Alonso past so they could run to the plan. Alonso knew about Spygate and didn't come forward but rather effectively helped covering it up. What these comments won't tell you is that the majority of McLaren wasn't involved in Spygate. Not long afterwards, Dennis met Alonso on neutral ground with their lawyers and negotiated an early release from his contract. Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? The head to head metric falls in Hamiltons favour when we include misfortune and Alonsos early preferential treatment in the team. It involved the McLaren, Ferrari and Renault F1 teams. Without McLaren F1 wouldnt be as interesting anymore, but still this ruling is a farce trying to keep F1 on track somehow. The fine initially appeared to have left McLaren undamaged - Hamilton and Alonso did lose the championship that year, both missing out to Raikkonen by a single point, but Hamilton went on to win his maiden title the following season in 2008. Hes very friendly with Mike Coughlan, our Chief Designer, and he told him that. Alonso is pretty toxic, no doubt. 25 March 2007 13.02* Regardless, Mosley would delight in regularly telling the story, clearly finding the idea amusing, whether he was its author or not. When he did not get a role that matched his ambitions, he took action - by secreting out of the factory 780 pages of confidential information; essentially, the blueprints for the 2007 Ferrari F1 car. I hope Im wrong. You cant stole the whole project of your main competitor and get away scot free, for a lot less people got a life ban from other sports. So it was the it was the divorce point, because he was looked at someone that had damaged McLaren.. That's where the vengeance and vindictiveness come in, for at the heart of this story are big rivalries involving big personalities.
SpyGate 101: A Primer On The Russia Collusion Hoax To Down Trump - nine years after their previous victory - but are still a long way from the competitive force they were. Alonso insisted that McLaren make Hamilton run out of fuel in the race. Stats count, opinions dont. They could not have a driver blackmailing the team. 18th March 2020, 12:2919th March 2020, 8:42 | Written by Keith Collantine. This just further proves how incompetent that Fia is at making decisions. Coughlan sent a text message containing the details to de la Rosa.
Alonso was 'unfairly blamed' for Spygate scandal - PlanetF1 De la Rosa with Alonso in 2007Did we change anything of our development, of our testing program? But Mosley, who died last year, said this was not the case. People have to understand that that information that was passed, I never saw it, said De la Rosa. With his manager Luis Garcia Abad also in attendance, he had a meeting with Dennis a few hours before the race. It attracted huge international attention as Formula 1 champions including Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti competed in it. While every thread of SpyGate could be unraveled more, April 30, 2016, marks the cleanest point to pin the start of the intrigue. p.s. 6. McLaren were disqualified from 2007 constructor's championship because of spygate. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Apologies maybe for going slightly sideways here, but any fan of Motorsport should make sure they watch the quite brilliant BBC3 tribute to Billy Whizz - AKA Billy Monger, the young man who lost both legs in a horrific crash. I really liked the Pedro de la Rosa beyond the grid episodes, lot of interesting things in there, about how he feels about being replaced with Hamilton thought McLaren should have been open w. him end of 2006: no clearly with HAM GP2 champ, he was there for 2007, so be honest he also says he saw what HAM did on 2nd testing lap, realised he was, like Alonso, beyond his level, and clearly the 2007 driver; his view is probably biased about spygate/Alonso (though he didnt speak to Alonso for years, until he got Ferrari spot on, what later turned out to be, Alonsos recommendation), but still interesting and insightful. From 2010, McLaren were no longer Mercedes' sole focus, and after 2012 they lost 'works' status and had to start paying for their engines. Trust between the two was damaged, and it was knocked further when Dennis embarked on building the second McLaren road car - the MP4-12C - against the wishes of Mercedes, who felt it would be a rival to their high-end products. As the 'dream team' of Schumacher, team principal Jean Todt, technical director Ross Brawn and chief designer Rory Byrne broke up at the end of 2006, Stepney felt not only that he was owed a promotion - in recognition of what he perceived to be his central role in turning the team into such a powerful force - but that he had been promised one. Nothing. Still not entirely over this topic despite it being a thing of the distant past rather than a recent-past case.
Former F1 Driver Insists that Fernando Alonso Was Innocent in the The same car, the same free practice, qualifying and race conditions. It doesnt surprise me that The Ham didnt have anything to do with this. JC Case (@jccase) 18th March 2020, 20:49. The second part of our series on the key moments of Fernando Alonso's career reveals new secrets about the tempestuous events that ended his first spell at McLaren. They. Dennis phoned FIA president Max Mosley to tell him what Alonso had said and the wheels were put in. A disgruntled employee at the sport's most famous team, Ferrari, felt passed over and let down. Although his relationship with the team was now totally broken, Alonso beat Hamilton in both Belgium and Italy. In Japan, Alonso, his car damaged and lacking downforce after a collision with another driver, crashed in the wet trying to keep up with Hamilton, who won. Sad really. Alonso had told Flavio Briatore, his former Renault team boss and his manager. At 1.43am on March 25th (one week after the Australian Grand Prix) de la Rosa sent an email to Alonso describing a gas Ferrari were using to reduce blistering in their tyres, adding: well have to try it, its easy! He late reassured Alonso about the source of the information. It is disgusting to me that a 2 time World Champion is involved in this debacle and will not be penalized for it. So Flavio made him win a race to keep him at Renault.
George Russell received a special message from Fernando Alonso when The title was won by Brawn - set up by Stepney's former boss - from the ashes of Honda's team, after the Japanese manufacturer quit F1 at the end of 2008. Then, he took matters into his own hands. "That situation was like a divorce inside the team," De la Rosa told the official F1 website. Why did you think she did it? There was a sit down and that was how Dennis managed to appease Alonso. Then find out a bit later that the boss hired a buddy and gave him all the perks instead. It attracted huge international attention as Formula 1 champions including Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti competed in it. The indication is they made an offer to bring four technical staff to Honda, but it seems that Fry turned down their approaches and it probably did not develop further from there. He did. The owner - a Ferrari fan, believe it or not - was immediately suspicious. But he didnt need the number one status.
F1: 5 of the most controversial moments of Alonso's career - Sportskeeda To: Mike Coughlan, Can you explain me as much as you can, Ferraris braking system with the [censored]? What ultimately cost Alonso was crashing in Japan, and poor driving in Canada. . Its always the same story with the F1 media, history gets re-written using anonymous un-named sources and with the usual underlying goal of pointing the finger at Hamilton and taking sly digs at his character. The team prepared to 'stack' the cars - service Alonso with fresh tyres before waving him out and then do the same for Hamilton, who was waiting behind him. Really and truly the majority of the fine was the cheating. Let's not forget that. Nando the GOAT, could not cope with being out-perfoprmed by a rookie. But having the actual design documents that gives you all the information on how another teams car works & then using those documents to test parts of the simulator, Use them on your own car (McLarens 2008 car was initially found to contain parts that came from the Ferrari documents) & also protest aspects of the other teams car based on what you find in those documents (Ferraris floor for instance) is something very different which shouldnt be part of F1 & shouldnt be tolerated. I find it hard to believe he had NO idea about any of this while both the other drivers were knee deep in the muck. A recovery process was begun under new management - part of which has been a return to being a Mercedes engine customer since 2021. If he had let Fernando past, there would not have been an explosion.". Analysis and opinion from the BBC's chief Formula 1 writer. They have something different from the rest. The drivers got a promise, that they would be immune. There were some great fights between them mainly through 2010-13, but ultimately too few for what should have been the great rivalry of the decade. Spygate - McLaren, 2007 season. It was the same one used by Michael at Monaco 2 years before to good affect. Then of course Alonso ran away from his 3 year contract like a coward only for Hamilton to become the McLaren world champion that Alonso failed to be and Alonso never recovered to win another championship after 2006. But he ignored repeated requests. @19: Hamilton driving slowly in front of Rosberg in 2016 ring any bells? IIRC they got the largest fine ever issued in sport over spygate - 100 million and were totally excluded from the championship! The World Endurance Championship is the leading worldwide series for prototype road-based sports cars. He asked Dennis to ensure LH ran out of fuel. Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Alonso decided to play his hand. Pedro and Alonso are in ferraris pay. After that they tied in Bahrain, Hamilton led Alonso in Spain, they tied again in Monaco and then Hamilton took control of the championship in Canada, which was the first race weekend that Hamilton was given equal fuel to Alonso. Alonso had gone to McLaren expecting to be their number one driver and title contender - indeed, he believed he had been promised that status by Dennis, something the team boss always denied. Bookmark. CART, which rebranded as Champ Car, fell into decline. Max benefitted of broken rules to win his wdc that's obvious 3 13 Chudretti (ENSHIN KARATE ENJOYER) @local_luka Through the first 10 races of 2007, Alonso finished ahead of Hamilton five times. The Woking team boss made a rare comment on the remarkable . Common sense would tell you that if you cheated in setting the car up, then you cheated in the races. The employee at the desk smelt a rat, emailed Ferrari, and that was the beginning of a series of explosive events that led to. Asanator (@asanator) 19th March 2020, 9:58. That should have meant that he left the pits first and did the most fuel-burn laps. Alonso sure has been a master at making poor decisions. The two time world champion was blamed for revealing information to the FIA which led to McLaren being fined $100 million in 2007. Read about our approach to external linking.
Flavio Briatore on crashgate, Schumacher vs Alonso, and winning the Alonso's relationship with Dennis fractured.
Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Formula One Racing World Well, it isnt even in Ferraris interest to get McLaren banned, because if they did get banned that would start an avalanche that might bury them as well. Follow Us Recently, former McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa appeared in a Formula One podcast. They kept that promise! Some had to run out of fuel or get a penalty for pitting when the pit lane was closed because they were on a similar strategy to FA. If you look at Alonsos onboards from 2006 to 2007, it seems like its a completely different driver with a completely different driving style. What was wrong with alonso using his own data and setup and beating lewis. He was blamed for the this spy scandal, Spygate, then he shouldnt have been. Mrs Coughlan took the sheets to a copy shop, as they could copy in colour. They both had 4 wins apiece. There, unlike at the first hearing, McLaren were found guilty, fined $100m and thrown out of the constructors' championship. Its still the fault of the ferrari guy at first and then the rest involved, and not the organisation that is McLaren! But two drivers in the same team could not stop on the same lap in the race. No, he didnt, they drew and when you consider the exceptional start hamilton had, Im not sure thats a negative on alonso, although 2007 wasnt the best alonso ever ofc. Hamilton should have beaten Alonso in Australia, after overtaking Alonso at the start, but Dennis short fueled his first stop to ensure Alonso got ahead of him. The fact the FIA knew about it raised many questions over who had passed this information to the FIA. The new F2 lasted just four seasons. The man at the centre of 'spygate' was Nigel Stepney - an Englishman who had been chief mechanic at Ferrari during the years in which they ruled F1 with Schumacher. January: Alonso arrived as double world champion. Wait for a couple of years and then you can see him driving a Ferrari! Dennis said he thought they should phone FIA president Max Mosley. Alonso threatened to reveal potentially incriminating emails to do with the Spygate case. From: Pedro de la Rosa That happened after Hungary. A month after that, Alonso officially left McLaren, and for a long time no-one thought he could ever go back. De La Rosa, McLarens reserve driver at the time, has revisited the scandal and thinks Alonso is wrongly seen as the man who damaged McLaren.
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