Spy Saga Taught Formula One A Lesson

By Alan Baldwin

LONDON - Last year's spying controversy, as well as costing McLaren a record $100-million fine and the constructors' title, taught Formula One a lesson it will never forget.

The season that fires up in Australia on March 16 is unlikely to see any repeat of the drama that scarred 2007. The consequences are clear and nobody wants to go down that road again.

"I think it's a wake-up call for everybody that we have to respect the normal laws and normal ethics of any business," was the verdict of Honda's new team principal Ross Brawn, the former Ferrari technical director.

"I think in a couple of areas people have not paid attention and in the future everyone is going to be super-diligent and this will stop.

"It (spying) won't be an ongoing disease like you see unfortunately in some other sports," the Briton told reporters at the end of last year.

Even if legal action continues in Italy, with developments likely to punctuate the year after McLaren executives were questioned last week about the leaked Ferrari data, Formula One starts afresh in Melbourne.

After McLaren froze suspect systems, apologized in writing and recognized that Ferrari information had penetrated deeper into the team than had been suspected, a line was drawn under the unedifying saga as far as the sport was concerned.

Brawn, who presided over a golden era at Ferrari with Michael Schumacher, believes the sport has had to wise up about the implications of personnel taking highly sensitive information with them when they change jobs, at least in written or electronic form. 





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