F1's biggest scandals: McLaren fined $100 million for Spygate

As with every great scandal, it is just a matter of time before the-gate suffix is attached, stemming from the Watergate scandal ofthe 1970s that led Richard Nixon to become the only US President toresign. So, the 2007 espionage crisis that engulfed Formula 1's twobiggest teams was popularly dubbed Spygate with McLaren being hitwith the largest fine in sporting history at $100 million USD, andlosing its Constructors' Championship after being caught with 800pages of confidential Ferrari technical information. It's a storywith aspects that still seem inconceivable - and still shapesFormula 1 today through one of the modern powerhouses of Grand Prixracing. The origins of Spygate The two key, crucial players inSpygate where Nigel Stepney of Ferrari and old friend MikeCoughlan, Chief Designer of McLaren. The basics are this. Adisgruntled Stepney felt he had been overlooked for promotion, andso stole nearly 800 pages of confidential technical informationabout the 2007 Ferrari - and handed them over to Coughlan, as thetwo tried to get jobs with other teams. But what caught Stepney andCoughlan out was the fact that Coughlan's wife, Trudy tried to makephotocopies of the documents at a shop in Woking. The only troublewas that the owner was a Ferrari fan, who immediately emailed theScuderia with his suspicions... As well as legal proceedings inboth Italy and the UK, the FIA opened an investigation - butcleared McLaren on the basis that Coughlan had acted alone and theFerrari information was not shared with other McLaren staff. Caseclosed? Right? That's where Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton comein. The drivers On paper, pairing the reigning two-time WorldChampion with a rookie should normally only have one number driver.But Hamilton put pay to that when he went dancing around theoutside of Alonso at Turn 1 in his first race at the 2007Australian Grand Prix, but Monaco was the first fracture in thepipe that would turn nuclear. Hamilton was effectively waved off byRon Dennis for chasing Alonso for the win, with an easy one-two inthe bag, and was not happy. But Dennis, a veteran of handlingprickly driver pairings (Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost would like tosay hello), misjudged Alonso, with the Spanish driver takingDennis's comment of calling Hamilton off as an insult to hisperceived number one status. It bubbled away through the summer,but erupted in Hungary qualifying with the famous 'block' in Q3 byAlonso on Hamilton. Hamilton had refused to cede position duringthe fuel-burn laps and so Alonso promptly held him just enough toallow himself to set pole position and deny Hamilton a final flyinglap. Alonso was docked five places on the grid, while McLaren'sConstructors' points were wiped out for the race but an argumentbetween Alonso and Dennis reignited Spygate, during which Alonsothreatened Dennis with revealing new information about Spygate tothe FIA, also making a demand. For more than a decade, whattranspired was known only to a select few, but was revealed by BBCSport in 2018, with Alonso demanding McLaren ensure Hamilton ranout of fuel in the race. Dennis immediately conferred with trustednumber two Martin Whitmarsh and informed FIA President Max Mosleywith Alonso retracting his comments later that Sunday morning.Dennis informed Mosley of Alonso's claim about more information,but the FIA boss was already aware and so re-opened theinvestigation. It was during this hearing that McLaren received the$100 million fine, but crucially, with a three-way title battlebubbling away nicely, Alonso and Hamilton kept their Drivers'points, much to good cop to Mosley's bad cop Bernie Ecclestone'sdelight... As Alonso feared, McLaren would end up losing the titleto Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, and left 2007 empty-handed, havingbeen set to win the Constructors' in their own right by ninepoints. Legend has it that Mosley told Dennis that $5 million ofthe fine was for McLaren's actions, and the remaining $95 millionfor him being foolish, although Mosley apparently described it infar fruitier four-letter terms. What happened next? Stepney waseffectively blackballed by the FIA and was struck by a lorry on theM20 in Kent, having been sentenced to a prison term in Italy forespionage, although he did not serve time. The coroner returned anopen verdict for the May 2014 accident. Coughlan became involvedwith Stefan GP in their fruitless attempts to join the F1 grid,before spells with Williams F1 and Michael Waltrip Racing andRichard Childress Racing in NASCAR. Dennis stepped down as McLarenboss ahead of the 2009 season, handing control to Whitmarsh butousted him in 2014, returning as boss for the failed Honda reunion.Dennis himself was ousted in 2017, leaving McLaren in June of thatyear and has kept a low profile ever since. Alonso would return toRenault for 2008 having had his McLaren deal ripped up beforejoining Ferrari in 2010. His patience at the Scuderia's inabilityto produce title-winning cars while Sebastian Vettel and thenHamilton racked up wins and titles in 2010-2014 led to himreturning to Woking for '15 to work with Dennis. In the summer of2007, you had got better odds on Lord Lucan being found ridingShergar than Alonso ever driving a McLaren again. The final keyplayer Mosley left his post as FIA President in 2009, with JeanTodt elected his successor. He died in 2021. But perhaps thebiggest impact was on McLaren. The team was effectively placed onprobation for 2008, with the MP4-23 being subject to investigationsto ensure no Ferrari DNA was present. Hamilton would claim hisfirst championship. But a crucial wedge was driven between McLarenand engine supplier Mercedes. Being a 40% shareholder meantMercedes was liable for $40 million of the fine when it had donenothing wrong - with Whitmarsh then agreeing to allow Mercedes tocrowbar an engine into the back of the Brawn Grand Prix 001 of2009. This came against its own backdrop of political shenanigansas teams tried to counter Mosley's influence, but Mercedes came tothe realisation it could have its own team, control the PR and sodecided to go it alone and brought Brawn out ahead of 2010. Thatteam was the Mercedes behemoth of 2014-21 and propelled Hamiltonfrom regular World Champion to all-time great. The loss of worksMercedes power triggered the downfall of McLaren in the mid-2010sthat Zak Brown is just beginning to bring the team out of it. Theroots of that downfall came in the summer of 2007 with one of theweirdest, strangest and biggest scandals sport, let alone Formula1, had ever seen.