The house of McLaren is not a fun place to be at the moment. The Formula 1 giant has been stung with a £50m  fine following revelations of a corporate espionage scandal in which it was allegedly involved. McLaren were found to have a 780-page dossier that revealed Ferrari’s technical secrets.

The dossier, allegedly supplied by disgruntled Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney, was found at the home of McLaren’s chief designer Mike Coughlan. The FIA’s world motor sport council concluded, using e-mail evidence, that Coughlan had shared the information with driver Fernando Alonso and test driver Pedro de la Rosa.

The FIA further concluded that the information had been used by McLaren to gain “some degree of sporting advantage” and that there was an intention to use the information in McLaren’s testing. Curiously, it was McLaren chief Ron Dennis who provided the FIA with the information which led to the motor sport body overturning its earlier decision that McLaren had gained no advantage from the information.

'The question remains as to why the FIA did not see fit to strip the two drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, of their championship points'


The question remains as to why the FIA did not see fit to strip the two drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, of their championship points yet precluded the team from accruing further points for the constructor’s championship and wiping their existing balance.

Surely, if an advantage had been gained, as the FIA have said, then the drivers are the beneficiary of that advantage and should be similarly punished. The fact that the drivers gave evidence should possibly reduce their penalty, but it’s hard to understand how they managed to escape penalty altogether.

While most of us would consider being fined £50m quid a pretty big deal, McLaren face an even bigger issue in the continuing deterioration in the relationship between Alonso and pretty much anyone in the team, but particularly with Ron Dennis and Lewis Hamilton.

Alonso has been disgruntled that the team won’t declare him as their number one driver, despite him being a two-time and reigning World Champion. While Alonso's claim has some merit, the fact remains that Hamilton has out-performed Alonso on the track this year, albeit by a fairly small margin. The danger is that the acrimony between the two drivers might boil over into an on-track incident that damages both of their chances.

The two have already had a couple of run-ins this year with Hamilton refusing to yield to Alonso to give him a clear run in qualifying in Hungary. Alonso then retaliated by deliberately blocking Hamilton later in the qualifying session, an act that saw Alonso relegated six places on the grid.

The relationship soured further at the Belgian Grand Prix with Alonso appearing to run his teammate off the road in the first corner. Although written off as a racing incident by both drivers, Hamilton was reportedly livid at what he believed to have been an unfair manoeuvre.

Rumours are circulating that Alonso will try to leave McLaren at the end of the year, despite having another year to run on his contract. At the rate that relations are deteriorating, it is difficult to see McLaren opposing the move and may even welcome it. Who knows, it may open up a spot for Jensen Button to get into a decent car, then what excuses will he have?

Has the FIA investigation come up with the right penalties? Post your comments below or submit an article to Spolrtingo.