Rival teams, young drivers to benefit from McLaren fine 15 Sep 2007
FIA President Max Mosley has revealed how Formula One racing’s governing body plans to spend the proceeds from McLaren’s record $100 million fine.
If Mosley has his way, McLaren’s rivals will receive a portion of the money, with the rest distributed among national motorsport authorities to help fund young driver programmes.
“Roughly half of it will go to the other teams, the other half we’re going - if the World Council agrees - to distribute to our ASNs worldwide to bring on young drivers,” Mosley told reporters at Spa.
McLaren’s fine - and the team’s exclusion from the 2007 constructors’ championship - came after the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council decided they had exploited confidential technical information obtained from Ferrari.
But whilst some in the paddock, including McLaren boss Ron Dennis, felt the punishment extreme, Mosley suggested the team were fortunate not to have received a harsher penalty.
“They were extremely lucky we didn’t quite simply say, ‘You have polluted the championship in 2007, you’ve probably polluted it in 2008 - because we’ve no way of knowing what information you’re using for what in your 2007 and 2008 cars - so you’d better stay out of the championship until 2009, because that way we know it’s completely clear.’
“We didn’t do that, and I think when the history of this gets to be written, it may be what we will be reproached not for doing too much, but for doing too little.”
McLaren have yet to confirm whether they plan to appeal the decision.
