"1998 Formula One World Championship The 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 52nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship which commenced on 8 March and ended on 1 November after sixteen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Mika Häkkinen and the Constructors' Championship was awarded to McLaren-Mercedes. The season saw a large shuffling of the pecking order with McLaren-Mercedes emerging as the quickest constructor. Häkkinen built up a clear championship lead, but a strong mid-season resurgence from Michael Schumacher and Ferrari saw him score a hat-trick of"
"2007 Formula One espionage controversy The 2007 Formula One espionage controversy, also known as Spygate and Stepneygate, was a set of accusations among Formula One racing teams that confidential technical information was passed between them. It involved the McLaren team, the Ferrari team, and the Renault F1 team. The original case involved allegations made by the Ferrari Formula One team against a former employee (Nigel Stepney), a senior McLaren engineer, Mike Coughlan, and his wife Trudy Coughlan concerning the theft of technical information. These allegations were the subject of legal action in Italy and an FIA investigation. A High Court"
"team, and possibly other (then unknown teams) as well. At the time, it was unknown if the meeting related directly to the espionage scandal, but a key McLaren argument made was that if McLaren was guilty, other teams were as well. On 13 September, the FIA hearing imposed a penalty for illicitly collecting and holding information from Ferrari to confer a dishonest and fraudulent sporting advantage upon McLaren. The penalty consisted of exclusion from and withdrawal of all points awarded to McLaren in all rounds of the 2007 Constructors' Championship, a record fine of $100 million (less the TV and"
"allowed to score Constructors' points at the event. Indeed, an internal agreement within the McLaren team stated that drivers would alternatively have an extra lap for qualifying, that Lewis Hamilton refused to accept for the Hungarian Grand Prix, explaining Alonso's decision. Subsequently, the McLaren team were investigated by the FIA for being in possession of proprietary detailed technical blueprints of Ferrari's car – the so-called ""Spygate"" controversy. At the first hearing, McLaren management consistently denied all knowledge, blaming a single ""rogue engineer"". However, in the final hearing, McLaren were found guilty and the team were excluded from the Constructors' Championship"
"involved in the espionage controversy surrounding his team and rivals Ferrari. With evidence provided by him and teammate Fernando Alonso, the FIA excluded the team from the 2007 Constructors' Championship, and issued a record fine of $100 million. He was understood to have sent e-mails to Mike Coughlan and Fernando Alonso regarding the Ferrari cars' setup. Before the Australian Grand Prix of 2008, De la Rosa was elected as the new chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association after a unanimous vote. De la Rosa was the preferred candidate for GPDA directors Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. He replaced the"
"2009 when another Concorde Agreement, effective until the end of 2012, was settled upon. In 2007, McLaren were involved in an espionage controversy after their chief designer Mike Coughlan obtained confidential technical information from Ferrari. McLaren was excluded from the Constructors' Championship and fined US$100 million. McLaren's Formula One team was originally called Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, and for their first season ran white-and-green coloured cars, which came about as a result of a deal with the makers of the film ""Grand Prix"". Between and , the team used an orange design, which was also applied to cars competing in"
"punishment of Briatore and Symonds was the testimony of the unnamed ""Witness X"", a Renault employee who was also present at the pre-race meeting but rejected the idea. The Daily Mail has reported that Witness X was Alan Permane, the team's chief race engineer. After Renault F1 were formally charged, the alleged offence was thought to be unprecedented within Formula One. The scandal followed two recent Formula One cheating scandals: a case of industrial espionage between teams (including Renault F1); and an instance of the 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton being found to have lied to race stewards in March"
"they had done during the entire year in 2006. However the team's season was marred by a fierce rivalry between its drivers Hamilton and Alonso, as well as a fall out between Alonso and the team's management. This contributed to both drivers eventually losing the championship by one point to Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen, despite having led the championship for most of the season. McLaren led the Constructors' Championship from the start of the season until the Italian Grand Prix, after which they were excluded from the championship due to allegations that the MP4-22 used data obtained from rivals Ferrari. This"
"drivers equally. However, after the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix, he said ""We weren't racing Kimi, we were basically racing Fernando."" ""The Times"" said his comments ""made a nonsense of his claims to be treating his drivers equitably in the World Championship run-in"" but the team's insistence on parity until the very final race in Brazil underlined Dennis's core philosophy even if it ultimately lost the team the world championship. The season was also notable for the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy, where the team was judged to have been complicit in the theft and use of Ferrari intellectual property; fined"
"years later. On 3 July 2007, Coughlan was suspended by McLaren following allegations of espionage against Ferrari. A Scuderia Ferrari press release said: The search warrant is understood to have related to Coughlan's home and the ""positive outcome"" is reported to be documents claimed to have originated at Ferrari's Maranello factory. Stepney's dismissal from Ferrari had been announced earlier the same day. On 6 July Honda F1 released a statement confirming that Stepney and Coughlan approached the team regarding ""job opportunities"" in June 2007. Since the revelation of Coughlan's involvement in the affair McLaren provided a full set of drawings"
"McLaren MP4-22 The McLaren MP4-22 was Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes' Formula One car for the 2007 Formula One season. It was revealed in testing at Circuit de Valencia in Spain on 15 January 2007. The car proved to be one of the most competitive of the season, achieving eight victories, however a fierce rivalry between the team's drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso combined with the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy led to the team losing both championships to Ferrari. In its design philosophy behind the new car, the team says the MP4-22 features ""some advanced engineering concepts"" and ""novel aerodynamic solutions""."
"win on his Ferrari debut since Nigel Mansell in 1989. Räikkönen subsequently won the Drivers' Championship by one point over both McLaren drivers, and, with nine victories, Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship. The 2007 Formula One espionage controversy directly concerned Ferrari employee Nigel Stepney, who was dismissed by the team as a result. The case revolved around the theft of technical information. After the end of the 2007 season, Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo announced a new structure for the team, with Jean Todt departing the team principal role and moving up to his senior role as CEO of"
"The collaboration with McLaren had been extended into the production of road-going cars such as the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. In 2007, McLaren-Mercedes was fined a record US$100 million for stealing confidential Ferrari technical data. In 2009, Ross Brawn's newly conceived Formula One team, Brawn GP used Mercedes engines to help win the constructor's championship, and Jenson Button to become champion in the F1 drivers' championship. At the end of the season, Mercedes-Benz sold its 40% stake in McLaren to the McLaren Group and bought 70% of the Brawn GP team jointly with an Abu Dhabi-based investment consortium. Brawn GP was"
"$100M and excluded from the 2007 constructors' championship. Later in the year, the Renault team was found guilty by the FIA of possessing some of McLaren's intellectual property, but was not punished, as the ""FIA's WMSC decided there was not enough evidence to show the championship had been affected."" In relation to McLaren, triple world champion Jackie Stewart criticised Mosley and stated that other teams did not back McLaren for ""fear of repercussions"". TV commentator and newspaper columnist Martin Brundle, a former driver, was among those who criticised the FIA and Mosley for inconsistency and questioned the ""energetic manner"" in"
"season. Following the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy the MP4-23 was subject to FIA inspection before the start of the 2008 season, to determine if any Ferrari intellectual property was on the car. After an admission that the Ferrari information was disseminated more widely throughout the team than was originally thought an apology by McLaren on 13 December 2007, and a pledge that measures would be taken to rectify the situation, caused the FIA to decide that there was no need for a formal hearing and the matter was considered closed. Revisions from the MP4-22 included a longer wheelbase, the"
"2006 as staying at Renault for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Briatore replaced Alonso with Kovalainen for 2007, saying: ""With Kovalainen, I hope to find the anti-Alonso"". Allegations were made during November 2007 by the FIA against the Renault F1 team regarding information they were found to have in their possession concerning the 2006 and 2007 McLaren F1 cars. These allegations were the subject of an FIA investigation, with an FIA hearing taking place on 6 December 2007. Renault were found guilty of breaching the same regulation as McLaren (see F1 espionage scandal), but were not punished. Despite this guilty"
"have videotaped an opposing team from an unapproved location while trying to obtain defensive signals. As was the Pittsburgh Steelers use of, at the time legal, performance enhancers. However, there was cheating proven by the Denver Broncos during their back to back titles in the late 90's to circumvent the league's salary cap and obtain and retain players that they would otherwise not have been able to. Circumvention of rules governing conduct and procedures of a sport can also be considered cheating. During the 2007 Formula One Season, driver Fernando Alonso was labelled a ""cheat"" for exchanging confidential information between"
"(and both Red Bull teams) have broken Schedule 3 of the Agreement which states: """"A constructor is a person (including any incorporated or unincorporated body) who owns the intellectual property rights to the rolling chassis it currently races, and does not incorporate in such chassis any part designed or manufactured by any other constructor of F1 racing cars except for standard items of safety equipment, providing that nothing in the Schedule 3 shall prevent the use of an engine or gearbox manufactured by a person other than the constructor of the chassis."""" Spyker and Williams believe that if the SA07"
"11 July Thursday, 12 July Monday, 16 July Wednesday, 18 July Friday, 20 July Thursday, 26 July Friday, 27 July Monday, 30 July Tuesday, 31 July Sunday, 5 August Tuesday, 7 August Wednesday, 5 September Thursday, 13 September Friday, 14 September Saturday, 15 September Sunday, 16 September Monday, 17 September Wednesday, 19 September Wednesday, 7 November Friday, 23 November Wednesday, 5 December Thursday, 6 December Friday, 7 December Thursday, 13 December Saturday, 8 March Friday, 11 July Friday, 6 February Monday, 23 February Wednesday, 29 September 2007 Formula One espionage controversy The 2007 Formula One espionage controversy, also known as"
"2007 McLaren Formula One cars. The statement issued by the FIA states that Renault F1 was found to have information ""including, but not limited to the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren F1 car, together with details of the McLaren fuelling system, gear assembly, oil cooling system, hydraulic control system and a novel suspension component used by the 2006 and 2007 McLaren F1 cars"". The date for the hearing was set for 6 December, 2007. The espionage claims are thought to revolve around an employee, Philip Mackereth, who transferred from McLaren to Renault, according to FIA President Max Mosley."
"case in England was dropped after Ferrari reached an agreement with the Coughlans. An FIA hearing into the matter took place on 26 July 2007 but did not result in any penalty for McLaren, however a second hearing took place on 13 September 2007, and by then in receipt of compelling evidence resulted in several penalties for the team. The most important of these were the team's exclusion from the Constructors' Championship and a record-breaking fine of $100 million (USD). Following information from McLaren allegations were subsequently made during November 2007 by the FIA against the Renault F1 team regarding"
"control system and suspension"""". The hearing on this matter took place in Monaco on 6 December 2007. The charge faced by Renault F1 – breaching of article 151c of the Sporting Regulations – was the same as that faced by McLaren earlier on in 2007 in the espionage controversy involving Ferrari & McLaren. The FIA found Renault F1 in breach of article 151c but did not penalise the team. It was announced on 10 December 2007 that Fernando Alonso had signed with Renault F1 for . Alonso drove alongside promoted test driver Nelson Piquet Jr., and was believed to have"
"with both drivers making it into Q3, setting competitive lap times in the race (4th fastest lap for Kovalainen) and looking set for 5th and 8th, only to be hampered by an identical problem on both fuel rigs, forcing both drivers to make extra pitstops which dropped them back to 7th and 9th. On 8 November 2007 the FIA accused Renault F1 of having McLaren F1 technical information in their possession. According to the charge, the information in hand """"included the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren car as well as details of McLaren's fuelling system, gear assembly, hydraulic"
"for Williams alongside Kazuki Nakajima in 2007. Karthikeyan said he was blown away by the difference between Formula One's stragglers and a top-flight team. Later in 2007, he was linked with the Spyker (previously Jordan) Formula One team after their driver Christijan Albers was fired, although Sakon Yamamoto got the drive. Due to the withdrawal of support of Williams F1 by Tata (Karthikeyan's main sponsor), Nakajima was given the lion's share of testing duties and Karthikeyan was sidelined. When the Spyker F1 team was bought out by Vijay Mallya towards the end of 2007, Karthikeyan had been linked with a"
"a three-day shootout in Melk, Austria on 6–8 February, twelve drivers were selected. Many of the Formula Student regulations also refer to FIA standards. In 2007 and 2008 the FIA was criticised on two issues. The 2007 Formula One espionage controversy involved accusations against McLaren, who were accused of stealing technological secrets from Ferrari. Commenting on how the FIA handled the situation, Martin Brundle wrote a column in the ""Sunday Times"" entitled ""Witch-hunt threatens to spoil world title race"" in which he accused the FIA of a witch-hunt against McLaren. The World Motor Sport Council responded by issuing a writ"
"was rejected by the International Court of Appeal, confirming the championship results. Räikkönen entered the final race in third position in the drivers' standings, but emerged as champion after the chequered flag, a feat first accomplished by Giuseppe Farina in . It has since been accomplished again, by Sebastian Vettel, in . A major talking point of the season had been an espionage controversy involving Ferrari and McLaren, which led to McLaren being excluded from the Constructors' Championship. As a result, Ferrari clinched the championship at the Belgian Grand Prix. The 2007 season heralded the end of the existing Concorde"
"their engines, though this became less common with the increased involvement of major car manufacturers such as BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, and Toyota, whose large budgets rendered privately built engines less competitive. Cosworth was the last independent engine supplier. Beginning in 2007, the manufacturers' deep pockets and engineering ability took over, eliminating the last of the independent engine manufacturers. It is estimated the major teams spend between €100 and €200 million ($125–$225 million) per year per manufacturer on engines alone. In the 2007 season, for the first time since the 1981 rule, two teams used chassis built by other"
"of events and further that the car used to win the 2007 Australian Grand Prix was illegal. McLaren learned of the ""illegal"" floor device from Nigel Stepney, with the team describing this contact as whistle-blowing. However the team insists that following this incident, Jonathan Neale instructed Coughlan to cease contact with Stepney. McLaren accuse Ferrari of trying to blur this ""whistle-blowing"" of which McLaren was aware, with Coughlan's possession of the 780 page Ferrari dossier of which it insists it was not aware. The 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix was a controversial weekend for McLaren; Hamilton had disobeyed a team instruction,"
"engineer, Mike Coughlan. A Ferrari press release stated: Upon his return from holiday in the Philippines on 5 July, Stepney was interrogated by the Italian police as part of the industrial espionage case. On 6 July, Honda F1 released a statement confirming that Stepney and Coughlan approached the team regarding ""job opportunities"" in June 2007. Since the revelation of Coughlan's involvement in the affair McLaren provided a full set of drawings and development documents to the FIA, detailing all updates made to the team's chassis since the incident occurred at the end of April. On 22 January 2008, it was"
"Bruno Spengler, ex-F1 driver and McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa and ex-McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz to the team. By October 2007, it was believed that the team had an agreement in place to use McLaren-Mercedes cars, at a cost of around $100M. Although David Richards also led the consortium which owns Aston Martin, he ruled out the Aston Martin brand entering F1. Although the FIA had announced in 2006 that customer cars would be permitted from the 2008 season, the 2007 season saw complaints against two teams, Scuderia Toro Rosso and Super Aguri F1, believed by other teams"
"raced with number 21 and Sutil 20. Spyker signed four test and reserve drivers for the 2007 season: Adrián Vallés, Fairuz Fauzy, Giedo van der Garde and Markus Winkelhock. In March, Spyker announced a sponsor deal with Etihad Airways and Aldar Properties, two companies from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The official name of the entrant during the season was Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team. On 10 July, Albers was released from his Spyker contract, due to a lack of sponsorship money, which would have compromised the team's development programme. Mol described it as ""one of the toughest decisions of"
"Spyker F1 The Spyker F1 Team, known as the Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team for sponsorship reasons, was a Formula One team that competed in the 2007 Formula One World Championship, and was created by Spyker Cars after their buyout of the short-lived Midland F1 (formerly Jordan Grand Prix) team. The change to the Spyker name was accompanied by a switch in racing livery from the red and white previously used by Midland, to an orange and silver scheme—already seen on the Spyker Spyder GT2-R—orange being the national colour and the auto racing colour of the Netherlands. At the end"
"reported that McLaren would let Alonso leave the team at the end of the season if he wished, two years earlier than his contract allowed. Alonso went on to finish third in the Drivers' Championship, level on points with teammate Hamilton and just one point behind World Champion Kimi Räikkönen, the closest 1–2–3 in WDC history. As part of the espionage controversy between McLaren and Ferrari, the former were found guilty of breaching the Article 151c of the FIA's sporting regulations but went unpunished due to a lack of evidence. However, following the acquisition of new evidence by the FIA,"