The Biggest Scandal in F1 History: Spygate Espionage

The scandal between the two biggest rivals of F1 racing, McLaren and Ferrari, A series of secret agreements made by the Ferrari engineer and the McLaren engineer It contained.

The emergence of the scandal was such a coincidence… Doubts of a manufacturer who is passionate about F1, This caused the incident to go like crazy. If you’re ready, let’s dive deeper into the F1 “Spygate” scandal.

Stepney, one of the important names of the Ferrari brand, had served the brand for 20 years.

Former Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney had an important place almost as much as racing drivers. He was making at least $1 million a year. Stepney in May 2007 Charged with sabotaging F1 cars was arrested.

Some technicians use oil around fuel tanks that could ruin the engine. a white powder He said what he saw. When they checked the cameras, they realized Stepney was indeed acting suspiciously.

Stepney, of course, denied these.

According to Nail Stepney, he gave a negative interview about Ferrari 2 months ago and Ferrari was trying to slander him by punishing him for this. As the process continued, the police furthered their investigations and Stepney’s electronic devices were examined. A 780-page file of technical details about the Ferrari racing car was found on his computer.

So maybe this wasn’t absurd for an engineer, but what happened next would prove that this file was suspicious. Now this 780 page document Let’s keep in mind and go back a few days before the police investigation.

Documents printed by a completely different person on a completely different continent revealed the incident.

A woman in Surrey, England, went to a printing house with all these documents we just mentioned and asked for them to be transferred to two different CDs. What a coincidence, the printing house employee who saw the order the next day He was a die-hard Formula 1 fan and he was suspicious.

The employee asked the woman her name with an excuse and then started researching online. This woman, Trudy Coughlan, is Michael Coughlan’s, aka She was the wife of the chief designer of Ferrari’s rival McLaren!

The printing house employee, who is passionate about F1, put together the pieces of the puzzle.

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The printer reached Ferrari team director Stefano Domenicali via e-mail. Apparently Stepney and Coughlan, They had worked together at three different companies. The espionage issue started in 2007.

Ferrari fired Stepney from his job. Since there was no evidence that the documents had left Coughlan’s possession, McLaren did not receive any penalty, but Coughlan was suspended from his duties. During searches at his home, to white powder reached.

The case remained open in case the evidence mounted.

McLaren would now be penalized if it was determined that Ferrari’s information was used. Ferrari appealed the decision and With new evidence including emails between Coughlan and Stepney It was decided to delete the 166 points collected by McLaren. The points of players such as Hamilton, who competed with McLaren at that time, would not be deducted individually.

Additionally, McLaren was fined $200 million. This was the largest fine ever paid in the history of the sport. This is how the “Spygate” scandal was written as a black mark on F1 history.

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