Hammy the mouth

[Steven Roy]

Alonso chose to blow the lid away, someone else could have done it.

Alonso did not choose to blow the lid away.  He assumed that like him Ron Dennis would say nothing if he knew about illegal information and that he could blackmail him into giving him number one status.  Ron Dennis made the phone call which blew the lid away.  Alonso assumed Ron was making an idle threat and tried to back down later on.  At no time did Alonso try to inform the FIA.

I though Montoya's comments on de la Rosa were interesting.  Aparently Pedro has always phoned people up looking for information and giving out information in order to get some. 

[Scott]

The Issue is not Alonso. The issue is Mclaren did something illegal. So do you all expect to keep quiet if your employer is doing something Illegal. Alonso chose to blow the lid away, someone else could have done it.
The key is not to do anything illegal.

A Ferrari employee did something illegal - a McLaren employee also did (being in possession of stolen property), but beyond that, everything is speculation.  Ding them both a couple mill and close the case.

I'm with Steven Roy - these emails may not have even existed before Ron called the FIA, and I think many of us know how ridiculous it is to use email or much of anything electronic as prime evidence, and I doubt the FIA has anyone with enough expertise to seriously evaluate it.

[romephius]

Actually electronic evidence is quite good as the average user has no administrative access to the server, therefore, the mail server logs will be easily checked for the validity of the claims.  Even as an adminitrator you can't change the logs.  All you need to do is check the date time stamps on the e-mail against the log....if they don't match, the e-mail is a fake.... Simple and effective really.

Rom

[johnbull]

Actually electronic evidence is quite good as the average user has no administrative access to the server, therefore, the mail server logs will be easily checked for the validity of the claims.  Even as an adminitrator you can't change the logs.  All you need to do is check the date time stamps on the e-mail against the log....if they don't match, the e-mail is a fake.... Simple and effective really.
Rom

And do we know that the FIA, or anybody for that matter, did this?

[romephius]

That is a brilliant and quite frankly a more pertinent question there JB.....but that question has a flip side.... Do we know that this hasn't been done??

Just offering the flip side question

Rom

[cosworth151]

But why didn’t the FIA follow the precedent they set with the Toyota case? Employees convicted in a court of law, at company with a dismal record of cheating in motorsport (i.e. WRC) and no penalty whatsoever.

[raindancer]

very difficult to fake e-mails as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts. It requires a conspiracy of gigantic proportions with severe penalties more so in the European context.
I think is not doubt the existence of these e-mails.
I for one do not believe that more people in Mclaren didn't know of this info. That is impossible considering the number of people and the cross functional nature of their jobs to make a good F1 Car.

[Monty]

I know that the whole point of the forum is for people to express their opinions. My only concern is that some of the very forceful opinions are based on information from the press and not on facts.
Every time I see someone write '....when a team does something illegal.....' I want to scream.
If a team did something illegal i.e. breaking the law, then of course something should be done. However we are talking about someone being accused of breaking the rules (still no proof by the way) and this is just big business. Somewhere, someone in your business will be breaking the rules and you will know about it. You will not blow the whistle because you are a team player or you are scared of losing your job, either way nobody will think any the worse of you.
Now there are loads of reports about what Hamilton is alledged to have said. I read the reports but I have never heard him say most of what was claimed. I hear that one of the Spanish papers gave a full report of an interview which Hamilton has proved never took place!
All this said, I agree with the overview that I wish all of the drivers would shut-up, take their huge salaries and get on with what they are paid for; 'racing' (not just driving but racing).

[raindancer]

Good one Monty. Just to add my two bits here. We also do not have too much information to the Contrary and I agree that the press puts words into the Mouth of Sportspersons but a key clause in the contract is that Drivers do not go half cocked and blurt out in front of the media without prior approval.
So please understand that most statements are approved by individual teams or do not fall in the realm of of jeopardising team rules.