Jul 23, 2007

Cheating Not Confined To NASCAR

Think NASCAR's Nextel Cup is the only racing organization having trouble with their teams bending the rules these days? Formula One has a full-on scandal on their hands that involves spying, possible bribery and a criminal investigation. Now that's exciting.

At the bottom of the controversy is the fact that some 780 pages of Ferrari team documents were found in the house of McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan, and the former director of performance at Ferrari, Nigel Stepney, has been accused of leaking the documents. But Stepney insists that he is innocent, and says he is ready to meet with Ferrari and reveal whom he suspects was guilty of giving the secret documents to Coughlan. Meanwhile, McLaren and Coughlan are in more hot water than Stepney, facing both Formula One sanctions and a criminal investigation in Italy, which is unlikely to go well for them. McLaren has suspended Coughlan, and claimed that none of its other employees were involved in the scheme -- but that is unlikely to mollify the Formula One competition committee.

McLaren could well be docked a significant number of points due to the scandal, and there is the possibility it could be banned from the sport for a season, although the chances of that are slim. There seems little doubt that the team has violated the Formula One International Sporting Code, which outlaws "fraudulent conduct." There is also the question about who knew what when about the Ferrari documents. Ferrari claims that Coughlan showed the documents to others within the McLaren organization, which means the scandal could run still deeper, gutting the McLaren team. For his part, Coughlan has only admitted that he received the documents through the mail.

But wait, there's more. The Honda Formula One team has also been brought into suspicion, since the team met with Coughlan and Stepney last month. Why Honda took the meeting with the two men is an open question, but they claim it had to do with future employment possibilities.

In any case, intrigue is running rampant through Formula One. Now it remains to be seen how the sanctioning body will deal with it. We hope they are harsher than the lily-livered response NASCAR has given to cheating this season.