GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => General F1 Discussion => Topic started by: cosworth151 on June 22, 2007, 07:21:30 PM
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Ferrari have accused Nigel Stepney of attempted sabotage and have started court proceedings against the 48 Englishman.
Stepney, who is thought to be moving to Honda, is accused of attempting to tamper with the two Ferrari cars on the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Modena’s Public Minister Giuseppe Tibis has been presented with documentation provided by the Maranello-based squad where they explore the hypothesis that Stepney had attempted to damage he cars of Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa after a mysterious powder was discovered in the cars tanks.
Ferrari have refused to comment saying only: "Nigel Stepney is still an employee but we have brought an action against him. It is not related to any event, it is related to his behaviour."
Stepney, who has a Ferrari contract until the end of 2007, said in February that he was open to offers from rival teams after expressing unhappiness at management changes.
credit ESPN
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UPDATE:
Nigel Stepney has accused the Formula One team of waging a dirty tricks campaign against him amid legal proceedings and allegations of sabotage.
"I have confidence I'll be cleared by the legal process that is now taking place," the 47-year-old Briton told the Sunday Times newspaper.
"It is just part of a dirty tricks campaign and everything is in the hands of my lawyer, so we'll wait and see what happens."
Ferrari said on Thursday that they had started court action against Stepney, who remains an employee, but declined to give details. A spokesman said they had also started internal disciplinary procedures against the Briton.
Stepney said in February that he was open to offers after expressing unhappiness at management changes following the departure of technical director and compatriot Ross Brawn.
He was moved to a new role, in charge of team performance development and away from the racetrack, before the start of the season in March. The Briton has also been linked to a possible switch to struggling rivals Honda.
Stepney had previously played an important role in leading the pit crew at races after joining Ferrari in 1992 as chief mechanic. His time at the team coincided with Michael Schumacher's golden period there.
Italian and British newspapers have mentioned a mysterious white powder that was allegedly found in the petrol tanks of the Ferrari race cars six days before this year's Monaco Grand Prix.
The Sunday Times said Italian police had also searched Stepney's house near the Maranello factory and left with a small container.
A Ferrari spokesman refused to comment on the speculation on Sunday, other than observing that "clearly there are a few papers that are very well informed".
Stepney, holidaying in the Philippines with his partner and child, dismissed suggestions that he had fled the country.
"Why would anyone say I am not contactable," he told the Sunday Times. "I booked the flights through the Ferrari travel office. They know where I am."
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mmore distractions for Ferrari,really must have Kimi
questioning his move to Ferrari
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I love it! This is the way Ferrari always used to be before the MS/JT/RB triumvirate took over - dirty deeds at the crossroads and the quick flash of a dagger in the back by moonlight. Ahhh, the good old days...
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Welcome to the site Chameleon,come
back often :D
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Hi Chameleon welcome along :yahoo:
Neil.P
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What type of "powdery substance" would be introduced into a fuel tank? And how or why would someone even suspect that something was not kosher and undertake to examine the fuel tanks in any case.
The entire controversy seems something right out of a fiction novel. Is this for real? At first reading I thought it was like an article from Onion.com.
Michael P. Whelan
Las Vegas, Nevada. U.S.A.
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Okay, this is F1 and Monaco, and there is nothing but big money being bandied about. So I ask, what was the powdery substance that was supposed to be put in the Ferrari tanks by Stepney? Not Cocaine? Maybe he had to hide his stash in a hurry. Didn't they also notice the bevy of bimbo's dashing out the back of the Ferrari garage with what looked like powered sugar all over their faces?
I smell a bad dime novel in the making.
Sorry, I spent too many years working in the film industry and still can't seem to shake that way of thinking.
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Welcome Chameleon, vegasmike and Willy! This makes me think of the "Powder in the fuel" flap with the Toyota teams at Daytona this past Feb. Wonder if Ferrari got caught and said' "He did it!"
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Hi again,
surely this has to be a joke? Sabotage?
Six minutes before a race, perhaps, but six days?
Whatever the truth of this remarkably undetailed allegation it surely cannot be sabotage! The reason for sabotage...the poor accusee WORKS there, for God's sake. What would be the point in destroying your own team's performance 6 days in advance of a race?
Absolutely none!
And what is this myserious 'white powder' anyway? Sugar? (a little 'old hat' and too easily discovered, don't you think?)
Drugs? Nuff said there...Formula 1 cars are probably the most examined vehicles in the history of the world...so smuggling has got to be 'out', Right?
Kimi's face powder? ::) Well there is possibly some mileage in this, he must use something to keep his face from ever appearing to smile (or show any other expression, if it comes to that) He surely is the most emotionless, dreary, spokesman for our favourite sport.
A mysterious performance enhancer? This seems to be in the realms of science fiction, as mentioned before evry aspect of the modern Formula 1 car is examined over and over again at all stages of the practice, the race and afterwards...Ferrari using some illegal substance?...I really don't think so.
Ferrari are not my favourite team, especially after the several years of Max Moseley's personal (and financially beneficial) vendetta against everything not Ferrari and not Bridgestone, but I cannot believe they would 'add a white powder' to their fuel tank. (of course, they might add it to Maclaren's? ...Naaaaah!
Maybe something will be revealed one day, but think about it...If you owned and run a Formula 1 racing team and you caught someone putting a white powder (or anything else) into a fuel tank how long do you think that person would last? Ten minutes? Ten seconds?
The man is still employed, so the 'revelations' would appear to be, at the very least, unsubstantiated, and in all probability pure fiction.
But long live Formula 1.
BobSpain
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I can't believe Nigel Stepney did anything to hinder Ferrari. He may not be keen on his current position but it is clear that had he not gone there when he did and instilled some discipline into their procedures there is no way Schumacher, Brawn and co would have gone anywhere near Maranello.
The idea that anyone could introduce something that either negatively or positively affected performance. Forget about the FIA finding it the Ferrari telemetry would find it before the car left the garage.
Sounds to me like Ferrari are trying to discredit him to prevent him being employed elsewhere.
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Hi Steven. Rambler from the pit lane club. Looks like my prophecies are coming true as far as Ferrari goes and it is a team in strife.
This could be the start of Ferrari's downhill and coupled with the fantastic resurgence of Mclaren and improvement by BMW its only a matter of time before Ferrari shoots itself.
Says very little of a World Champion and a Technical Director who couldn't or didn't want to ensure continuity.
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I think you could be right. It looks like some people in Ferrari haven't learned that the only reason they succeeded for so long was by being disciplined and keeping all the umpleasant stuff behind closed doors. Makes you wonder why Ross Brawn would want to go back into it when he could probably go to any team he wanted. You would have thought ten years of doing things right would have killed off all the political nonesene at Maranello but it looks like it has been operating under the surface the whole time. I wonder who is stoking it. Todt? deMontezemolo? Schumacher?
At least if it takes them out of the championship for a few seasons we can have things decided fairly on the track rather than the FIA pulling rule changes out of a hat to make sure the red cars win. I wish Ferrari had gone the way of Maserati and Lancia a few decades ago.
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I think it was Chameleon that said this is shades of the Ferrari of old - the Ferrari we knew, before MS and co.
But please, pardon my ignorance, but would somebody kindly enlighten me how Nige Stepney, working well away from anything to do with F1 this year, puts something into the F1 car fuel tanks - weeks before - and nobody notices. I was under the impression he wasn't allowed anywhere near the cars anyway, and we know what the security is like at Maranello.
I know Ferrari are great and all that but have they got as far as working miracles........already? :confused:
Just the sort of crap which is going to make Ferrari move backwards - FAST. And just the sort of thing that will make Ross B decide not to return.
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Hi John,
This is Rambler from the pitlane club. Is Oonga around ? :tease:
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Hi John,
This is Rambler from the pitlane club. Is Oonga around ? :tease:
Hey quiet Rambler! You might give him / her ideas. :stop:
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! ::)
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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.
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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. ;)
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Ah, but you have to love those Italians. So much entertainment value! ;)
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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.
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Steven, do you realise we are a family of animal lovers. ;)
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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
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I'll bet that Stepney gets a job offer from Honda later today... ;)
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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.
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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.
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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...? ;)
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Don't believe in miracles, huh, Cozzie...? ;)
Of course I do - I was a Minardi fan! :yahoo:
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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. :yahoo:
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.
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Don't believe in miracles, huh, Cozzie...? ;)
Of course I do - I was a Minardi fan! :yahoo:
I still am! Avanti Minardi! :yahoo:
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I saw somewhere today that Minardi won a Champ Car race. Miracle indeed.
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Yes. Robert Dornbos last Sunday at Mont Tremblant. He actually took the lead from Bourdais with 5 laps to go.
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They won the race at M-T in Canada Sunday. Stoddy has former F1 driver Robert Doonbos driving for him. They got second at the previous race in Cleveland.
Forza Minardi!!!!!!
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I remember when Rindt was killed in Italy,Chapman
had to leave the country in a hurry.Afraid murder
charges would be filed.
Chameleon,I have a Minardi team jacket :good: :D
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Just heard on 5Live Radio news
McLaren have sacked or suspended (can't recall as had kids blabbing in my ear at the time) an employee for allegedly receiving Technical Information from a Ferrari employee.
David
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Yup ! Looks to be an interesting season.
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Methinks it could go further too, the net widens.
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Methinks it could go further too, the net widens.
The two faces of Italy in one thread - the borgia-esque plotting at midnight and the love of motor racing as exemplified by Minardi in their heyday...