Would McLaren Mercedes have to leave the Formula One?

By Emeli Dean

The British motorsport racing team, McLaren Mercedes, now fears for its spot in the Formula One due to the ‘lying’ affair. McLaren is considered one of the most successful teams in the Formula One history which has won twelve constructor’s championships and eight titles for the driver’s championship since their first Grand Prix in Monaco in 1966.

Their most recent victory was the in 2008 when the British driver Lewis Hamilton managed to achieve the driver’s title as the youngest World Cup Champion in the Formula One history. After the team had been overshadowed by the famous Italian team Ferrari for almost ten years, this victory was more than just a win. The final race in 2008 was probably the most exciting one in years and McLaren could hardly believe the luck. The team was overwhelmed and Mercedes motorsports manager Norbert Haug said in an interview: “What a race, this has never happened before, my nerves! This was great sport. Now we are World Champion and I think that we have earned this title. We have to take this in for now.”

This championship was also very important after the season 2007 was tainted with the spying affair where technical information was illegally passed on to McLaren, but now the team has to confront another judgment from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Back in 2007 the team got away with a black eye and only had to accept the loss of the constructor’s points and a fine of around 100 million US$ (approximately €72 million). The two drivers, Alonso and Hamilton, at that time were allowed to keep their driver’s points.

This time the team may have to expect a much higher sentence as they may be suspended from the Formula One. At the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix on March 29th 2009, a clash between Kubica and Vettel led to the second pace car phase in this race. At this point, the Briton Hamilton was behind the Italian Toyota driver Jarno Trulli who swinged off the track due to technical problems. As a result, Hamilton passed him but is believed to have received the information from the pit that this has been an illegal move, so he should let the Italian, who was back on track, pass him again. So he did and Trulli announced afterwards that Hamilton had almost stopped so he thought that he had a technical problem as well. However, after he passed, Hamilton stepped on the gas again and made the race organization believe that Trulli had overtaken him illegitimately and penalized him. He was demoted from the third place to rank twelve and Lewis Hamilton took over the third place and brought his team on the podium.

Of course this didn’t end there, Toyota appealed and the case was examined carefully. At the beginning the funk instruction was concealed and afterwards totally denied. According to the FIA four days later, more material to this case appeared, so they disqualified Hamilton and his team subsequently from the opening race. The racing organization had the feeling that they had been misled intentionally, and this was unacceptable.

At a press conference later on, Hamilton announced that he indeed received instructions from his racing team and that McLaren sports director Dave Ryan has told him to keep his mouth shut and to not disclose any information regarding this case. McLaren team chef Martin Whitmarsh announced with an apology the expulsion from Ryan: “Ryan has acted arbitrary and has persuaded Hamilton to a false statement, this has caused the team great harm. I want to apologize for this. We did not know anything about this.”

Now the team is waiting for the result of the conference from the World Council on April 29th in Paris where the future of the team will be negotiated. The possibilities go from a fine right up to exclusion from the World Cup Championship.

About the author
Emeli Dean provides current Formula One Championship articles as well as information in the sports betting industry. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.