The Stepney Plot Thickens...Or Does It?

[Steven Roy]

I hadn't read that.  Two of the best technical minds in F1 couldn't figure out how to work a copier or a scanner?  Nigel Stepney went into a copy shop with documents which would clearly have 'restricted' or something similar stamped on them?  Presumably if he was going to steal documentation he would have stolen copies and not the originals.  Anyone with a basic grasp of document cotrol knows that the original will be missed sooner or later.

So either Stepney wanted to keep a copy for himself(why?) or he stole the originals, had them copied and then took them back past the security to put them back.  It's insane.

Presumably the guy in the copy shop waited a few days before he decided that what he had seen was suspicious and then phoned Ferrari.  Why didn't he phone them straight away then they could have caught Stepney red-handed?

[raindancer]

Steven ! I think we should forget this. This whole thing is insulting the intelligence of fifth grader. Even the most budget strapped f1 teams today have a security apparatus which includes

Access Control - Finger Print or Retinal.

They will have copy protection , document count.

They will have firewalls and internal systems to check and track the copies being made.

Internally there will be "off limit" areas with surveillance and record keeping.

They will have scanners and other devices which can detect even a unauthorised pencil from being carried out.

All this is networked with real time capture of information.

They will have security systems more befitting a top secret lab.

I can go on ......

Who are they Kidding ??????

[Steven Roy]

The one interesting thing about this is that no-one seems prepared to believe that Nigel Stepney would get involved in anything illegal.  Yet he was chief mechanic on all the dodgy Benettons and was heavily involved in the not absolutely legal Ferraris.  Does this mean that passin information is seen as something so much worse that it is to big a step to believe he would do it?  Or is it no-one is prepared to believe anything Ferrari says?

[Chameleon]

Good points, Steven.  Personally, I don't know Stepney so I have no idea what he's capable of - I can only listen to what I'm told and try to make some sense of it.  All along I have tried to be open-minded and not jump to conclusions about anything (read the post on my blog on the subject and you'll see that's exactly how I was suggesting the fans proceed: wait and see).

But so many conflicting and strange facts are being revealed that it looks more and more as though there is much more going on behind the scenes than we are aware of.  Certainly, if Stepney and Coughlan were involved in industrial espionage, they seem to have gone about it in such a ham-fisted way that one wonders how they ever managed to do their jobs as competently as they have done.

Curiouser and curiouser...

[Chameleon]

I hadn't read that.  Two of the best technical minds in F1 couldn't figure out how to work a copier or a scanner?  Nigel Stepney went into a copy shop with documents which would clearly have 'restricted' or something similar stamped on them?  Presumably if he was going to steal documentation he would have stolen copies and not the originals.  Anyone with a basic grasp of document cotrol knows that the original will be missed sooner or later.

So either Stepney wanted to keep a copy for himself(why?) or he stole the originals, had them copied and then took them back past the security to put them back.  It's insane.

Presumably the guy in the copy shop waited a few days before he decided that what he had seen was suspicious and then phoned Ferrari.  Why didn't he phone them straight away then they could have caught Stepney red-handed?

It's worse than that, Steven.  The story is that it was Coughlan, not Stepney, who tried to get the documents copied by a print firm.  How much sense does that make...?

[johnbull]

Whatever it is, it seems to be working. Just look at the situation at Silverstone right now.

They have succeeded in disrupting Mc Laren's normal cool.

[cosworth151]

I've just read that the German press is reporting that Stepney offered the documents to Honda first, but Honda turned him down. They are also saying that McLaren's suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan intended to defect to Honda, and take several key engineers with him.

In case you ever wondered what F1 would be like if it was run by Robert Ludlum......

[johnbull]

This is getting totally out of hand.

Absolutely pure, unadulterated comic opera.

[Chameleon]

Things begin to return to earth it seems - this report in Autosport brings the emphasis back from espionage to job interviews: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/60550

Now that I can believe...

[Steven Roy]

OK I am going to ask.  Why would Mike Coughlan copy whateve it was?

The job interview thing is obviously the trigger.  The obvious question from that is if you are Nick Fry and your team is struggling badly and you get two of the most clued up guys in the F1 paddock not only offering their services but to bring along others from the two most successful teams why don't you sign them up?  Either they have something better lined up or the Japanese are intent on doing things their way.  I guess the other question is why did Nigel Stepney go on holiday when he did?  It seems a strange time for hte head of team performance or whatever half-baked job title he has to take time off?

[Chameleon]

The documents copied are supposed to have been not just plans but details of strategy and so on.  Why would Coughlan copy them?  Who knows?  But it makes a good story of how the whole thing was found out... 

Do we know that Nick didn't sign up either or both of Stepney and Coughlan?  He might have for next year, for instance.  But maybe he was not empowered to make them an offer there and then; very often this sort of job is a matter of months of negotiation.  As to why Stepney went on holiday when he did, I suspect that you have answered your own question, Steven.  If the job he was doing was more a title than anything else, something to keep him out of the way until the team for next year has been decided, it wouldn't really matter when he took a holiday.  To my mind, the holiday thing is the weirdest of all.  When one side says he ran away and the other says it was a planned and booked holiday, one or the other is clearly lying.  Surely it should not be too hard to find out which one?

[johnbull]

I'm sorry friends, but I'm taking all this with a pinch of salt.

What is wrong with intelligent people like Stepney and Coughlan looking for a job with better prospects, challenge, call it what you please.

People are doing this all the time. People are being poached from one team to the next all the time. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I still maintain that the purpose of this whole sham is for Ferrari to try their hardest to distract Mc Laren at a very important time in the championship.

Like I've said before, I live next door to Italy. I spend alot of time with Italians. I know just how they tick, and they are not the most sporting nation in the world.

So it started with Stepney putting gun powder in Massa's tank at Monaco, then it became Stepney passing secret documents to Coughlan. Then Coughlan's house was searched and the documents found. Then the house wasn't searched.

Oh for god's sake, do they make us all out to be as gullible as your average Ferrari fan.

[Steven Roy]

I think Ferrari are trying to stop Stepney and Coughlan going to Honda.  When they heard about the joint interview they obviously decided that they didn't want Honda hiring a group of Ferrari and McLaren senior people.

[johnbull]

More fool Fry for spilling the beans, frankly.

[Chameleon]

Well, Fry maintains that he told Ferrari and McLaren of the interviews at the time.  As you say, it is perfectly acceptable that employees of one company are allowed to seek employment elsewhere if they wish.  Ferrari already knew that Stepney wasn't happy because he'd told the press so.  It might have been a bit more of a surprise to McLaren that Coughlan was thinking of going but I doubt it.  They would certainly have taken it a good deal easier than Ferrari would have taken Stepney's perceived desertion.

What remains to be seen is the nature of the documents (more than 500 pages apparently) taken from Coughlan's home.  There must be something in that or Ferrari would be opening itself up to ridicule and possible legal action.

Oh, and the white powder is now being described as "detergent", although I much prefer John Bull's suggestion that it was gunpowder...