Nigel Stepney accused of Sabotage

[johnbull]

Hi John,
This is Rambler from the pitlane club. Is Oonga around ?

Hey quiet Rambler! You might give him / her ideas.

Pit lane admin gave GPWiz admin names of decent folk, not the rif raf! Thank goodness. I reckon OOnga had lots to do with the fall of pit lane, though I never did find out exactly what was going on.

Great that we have a new home though, and Mr. Admin please forgive an old man for going completely OT!

[Chameleon]

It seems that the "white powder" rumour was largely the invention of the Italian press - Ferrari is hinting at the sale of plans and information to other teams instead.  To me, it seems extremely unlikely that Stepney has been involved in anything like such underhand dealings.  He was dissatisfied, yes, but that does not automatically turn him into an industrial spy.

I have seen it suggested that Ferrari are using the charges as a lever on Stepney to get him to agree to certain stipulations before he is allowed to leave.  Considering the length of time (at least a year) before the Italian legal system will get around to looking at the case, that looks fairly likely to me.  But I have to ask: if your employers threw a law suit at you and insisted on retaining you as an employee, how bound by any agreements would you feel after you had escaped?  It's a classic example of "how not handle your employees".  If the guy was genuinely involved in industrial espionage and it could be proved, the correct procedure would be to sack him immediately and consider legal proceedings afterwards.

[johnbull]

I reckon it's just a case of Ferrari's standard obsession with finding a scapegoat.

Historically they go into hysterics when things aren't going quite according to plan. This is just a similar case. Ferrari are never wrong - remember what Nelson Piquet said.

They always need a scapegoat, and this time it's Nige Stepney.

It will be interesting what they'll come up with if Ross Brawn decides to go elsewhere.

Living next door to Italy I know the Italians well. I have many Italian friends and they are dear friends indeed, but having raced against them I know the feeling first hand, believe me.

[Chameleon]

Ah, but you have to love those Italians.  So much entertainment value!   

[Steven Roy]

I read something(I think in grandprix.com) that said under the Italian legal system the judiciary has to follow up any complaint made by anyone regardless if there isn't a shred of evidence to prove it.  This is one of the reasons that their legal system is slow.  So if I go into an Italian police station and say johnbull uses leopard bones for the chassis of JBR3 they will start an investigation that probably they will never look at again and the world's press will have headlines saying johnbull under investigation for using leopard bones in race car. 

There is absolutely nothing the victim of this can do apart from create such a lot of noise that the investigation goes ahead and they are cleared.

No leopards were harmed in the writing of this post.

[johnbull]

Steven, do you realise we are a family of animal lovers.

[cosworth151]

I've just read that Ferrari has announced that Nigel Stepney is "no longer an employee’ of Ferrari."

Through his lawyer, Stepneyhas denied any wrongdoing. He will return to Italy from the Philippines later this week. He is expected to hold a press conference at that time.

Cos

[Chameleon]

I'll bet that Stepney gets a job offer from Honda later today... 

[Steven Roy]

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=39875

According to itv-f1.com Gazetto dello Sport says that Ferrari has conducted its own investigation into the allegations against him(whatever they are) and he has been sacked.  LucaColajanni is quoted as saying the allegations relate to irregularities discovered at the Ferrari factory before Monaco.

The man went there turned round the team so it could attract Schumacher and co and when he is out of the country they stab him in the back.  Nice.

[cosworth151]

I hope he lands somewhere better than Honda. I'd really like to see him at a team where he could stick it to Ferrari.

[Chameleon]

I hope he lands somewhere better than Honda. I'd really like to see him at a team where he could stick it to Ferrari.

Don't believe in miracles, huh, Cozzie...? 

[cosworth151]

Don't believe in miracles, huh, Cozzie...? 

Of course I do - I was a Minardi fan!

[johnbull]

The whole affair is so typically Italian. I know because I live next door and I spent 5 years racing in Italy regularly. Every time I won my car was protested.

Just one thing worries me. Stepney had better not step into Italy because Italian law being what it is, he could end up being arrested and thrown in. They throw you in first and discuss the details later ... in their own time.

Looking even further ahead and speculating further, Stepney and Brawn are both big buddies. Brawn just may be thinking it's not such a good idea to go back to Maranello after all.

[Chameleon]

Don't believe in miracles, huh, Cozzie...? 

Of course I do - I was a Minardi fan!

I still am!  Avanti Minardi!   

[Steven Roy]

I saw somewhere today that Minardi won a Champ Car race.  Miracle indeed.