McLaren 'comfortable' with FIA probe

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 Tuesday, May 29th 2007, 08:57 GMT


McLaren-Mercedes say they are not concerned about the FIA's investigation into their Monaco Grand Prix tactics.

The FIA announced yesterday that it will examine McLaren's handling of the race to determine whether they broke the sporting code by employing illegal team orders.

But a McLaren spokeswoman told Reuters that the team were 'comfortable' with the FIA inquiry and confident about its outcome.

"McLaren are completely comfortable with the FIA's investigation into our race strategy and that all decisions taken both before and during the race were completely in compliance with the international sporting code," she said.

The team took a dominant one-two in Sunday's race, with Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton finishing over a minute clear of Ferrari's Felipe Massa and lapping the rest of the finishers, having been the class of the field all weekend.

Ron Dennis said afterwards that the drivers had been instructed to back off and conserve their cars after their first pit stops rather than racing to the flag.

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Stewart says McLaren did nothing wrong

 Tuesday, May 29th 2007, 13:48 GMT


Triple world champion Jackie Stewart defended McLaren on Tuesday after Formula One's governing body opened an investigation into the team's Monaco Grand Prix victory.

"I saw nothing wrong with what occurred," the former Monaco winner and ex-team owner told BBC radio.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) has said it is looking into "incidents" involving the championship leaders "in light of a possible breach of the International Sporting Code."

The controversy concerns so-called "team orders", banned after the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix where Ferrari told Brazilian Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher win.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso won for McLaren on Sunday, ahead of British rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton. The two are now level on 38 points but Spaniard Alonso leads the championship on race wins.

Hamilton, who finished runner-up for the fourth race in a row, said he had been told to ease off to ensure the one-two outcome.

McLaren have said they simply had a strategy to win the race.

"I make no excuses for instructing the racing drivers to slow their pace after the first stop and to effect our strategy," team boss Ron Dennis said on Sunday.

Stewart said: "The Schumacher-Barrichello case was blatant. He reduced his speed by maybe 30 or 40mph to have Schumacher pass him before the finishing line," said Stewart.

"But it's a very difficult thing to start telling team owners that if you are running first and second that you should keep driving your drivers to the absolute limit of their ability.

"What if he (Hamilton) had tried a little bit too hard in these last laps in Monaco and slid off the race track, hit a barrier and taken the McLaren out of the race?" he added.

Bookmakers Williams Hill have suspended all betting on the outcome of the championship pending the investigation while Paddy Power said they were refunding bets on Hamilton.

"It's hard enough to pick a winner even when your selection is actually trying to win. The only fair thing to do is give punters their money back," declared the Paddy Power Website.

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FIA clears McLaren in Monaco investigation

By Pablo Elizalde Wednesday, May 30th 2007, 13:30 GMT


The McLaren-Mercedes team did nothing against the sporting regulations at the Monaco Grand Prix, the sport's governing body said on Wednesday.

The FIA launched an investigation on McLaren's tactics at Monte Carlo following a one-two finish on Sunday, and after Lewis Hamilton revealed he had been asked to ease off in order to avoid risks in the race.

Team orders were banned following the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, where Ferrari ordered Brazilian Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher win.

Article 151 of the FIA's international sporting code declares that "any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally" is a breach of the rules.

The governing body said on Wednesday, however, that the team had done nothing wrong.

"Having studied the radio traffic between Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (McLaren) and its drivers, together with the FIA observer's report and data from the team, it is clear that McLaren's actions during the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix were entirely legitimate and no further action is necessary," the FIA said in a statement.

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McLaren welcome FIA verdict

By Pablo Elizalde Wednesday, May 30th 2007, 14:31 GMT


McLaren boss Ron Dennis welcomed the FIA's decision to clear the British team of using illegal team orders during the Monaco Grand Prix.

The FIA, who launched an investigation on Monday, said today that it was "clear McLaren's actions during the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix were entirely legitimate and no further action is necessary."

"The entire team was understandably disappointed that outstanding drives from both Fernando and Lewis resulting in a great one-two victory and McLaren's 150th win was temporarily tarnished," said Dennis in a statement.

"The efficient intervention and subsequent inquiry of the FIA into the allegations of the last three days has removed any doubt about the manner in which the team ran its cars during the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix.

"The team, Fernando and Lewis, who currently are leading both world championships can now concentrate on the Canadian Grand Prix."

The team also responded to the media sources who suggested Briton Lewis Hamilton had been denied of a chance to fight for victory.

"The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team has at all times stated that the team did not breach the International Sporting Code at the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix, and as a result is pleased that the FIA, following an extremely efficient, professional and thorough investigation, has confirmed that the team's actions were entirely legitimate," the statement added.

"Press comments following the Grand Prix focussed on two issues; the fuel strategy and the allegation that the drivers were not allowed to race each other. The FIA investigation shows that these criticisms were not justified."

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The full statement from the FIA

 Wednesday, May 30th 2007, 13:42 GMT


Full statement from the FIA following the investigation of McLaren's one-two finish at the Monaco Grand Prix:

Having studied the radio traffic between Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (McLaren) and its drivers, together with the FIA observer's report and data from the team, it is clear that McLaren's actions during the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix were entirely legitimate and no further action is necessary.

The facts

1. A two-stop strategy is the optimum at Monaco unless the safety car is deployed, in which case one-stop can sometimes be better.

2. The safety car has been deployed during four of the past five Monaco Grands Prix.

3. Under current rules the choice between a one-stop and two-stop strategy must be made before the final qualifying period.

4. It is clear from FIA measurements taken after qualifying that McLaren fuelled Hamilton for five more laps than Alonso.

5. This allowed Hamilton the option of a one-stop strategy should the safety car have come out during his first stint.

6. The safety car was not deployed.

7. The McLaren was significantly faster at Monaco than any other car.

Background

The primary objective of any team is for one of their drivers to win.  If this can be achieved they will try to ensure their other car finishes second.

With no safety car during Alonso's first stint, there was a small but finite risk that it would come out during the five laps before Hamilton had to refuel.  This would have put him behind the field and at a significant disadvantage to any car on a full (as opposed to optional) one-stop strategy.  The latter cars would be expected to refuel around lap 40 - ie after the safety car had pitted if it came out during Hamilton's extra laps.

For similar reasons Hamilton was called in early for his second pit stop, thus assuring his second place, with or without a safety car.

Had the car in front of Hamilton not been his teammate, McLaren might (probably would) have decided to risk the safety car and let Hamilton run for as long as his fuel load allowed in the hope that he would come out of the pits in the lead after one of his pit stops.  There is, however, no obligation on them to take this risk in order to overtake their own car.  Indeed it would be foolish to do so.

It is standard procedure for a team to tell its drivers to slow down when they have a substantial lead.  This is in order to minimise the risk of technical or other problems.  It is also standard practice and entirely reasonable to ask the drivers not to put each other at risk.
 
McLaren were able to pursue an optimum team strategy because they had a substantial advantage over all other cars.  They did nothing which could be described as interfering with the race result.

 
 

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Hamilton: McLaren not favouring Alonso

By Jonathan Noble Thursday, June 7th 2007, 20:11 GMT


Lewis Hamilton says he is confident that McLaren are giving him exactly the same chance of winning the championship this year as teammate Fernando Alonso.

The recent controversy of the 'team orders' situation at the Monaco Grand Prix was fuelled when Hamilton told reporters after the race that he knew he was the 'number two' driver at the team.

But with McLaren cleared by the FIA of any wrongdoing for telling their drivers to hold position in Monaco, Hamilton has also made it clear that he is confident of completely equal treatment himself.

"The team give me the exact same car as Fernando," said Hamilton, speaking at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Thursday. "I have got a fantastic group of guys working on my car, who are as good as Fernando's guys, if not better.

"I have got a real strong belief in them, and all the guys here want to win. No one is biased; they are very, very level and very equal. That is not exactly how it sounded, and I think people took it (the comments) out of context and made it sound a lot worse than it actually was."

When asked whether he felt he had an equal opportunity to win the championship, Hamilton replied: "I feel I have. I feel the team are going to give me the car, me and Fernando, the car to win and I feel it is going to come down to the end (of the season).

"It will be just at the end who is the most consistent and who makes the least mistakes. I think it is going to be tight all the way."

Hamilton has said he did not expect the team orders situation to become such a big talking point after Monte Carlo - with the British newspapers in particular being very critical of McLaren's actions.

"I didn't really focus on it too much, but I could see it (the story) was just getting bigger and bigger," explained Hamilton. "I was quite surprised that such a big thing was made out of it.

"At the end of the day when you look at it, we were the most successful team at the weekend and we did a fantastic job with both drivers. When we came away from it people weren't focusing on that, they were focusing on something else."

Hamilton did admit, however, that it had been hard to accept the disappointment of finishing second in the race to teammate Fernando Alonso.

"I was happy but it is just tough when the car is great, everything is going well, you know you have got the pace, and you don't maximise it. So some of the disappointment came from myself.

"But Alonso did a fantastic job in the race and there is no doubt he did the best job and deserved to win."

He added: "My time will come though. I am only 22. We have got time."