Why McLaren once received a £50 million fine and were disqualified in one of F1’s biggest scandals

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One of the biggest sporting scandals in the history of the championship rocked the Formula 1 world 17 years ago: Spygate.

Allegations of blackmail and secrecy, and the thing that coined its name in the first place, spying, among two of F1’s most prestigious teams McLaren and Ferrari.

It happened at the height of the title battle in 2007 between Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, when a disgruntled employee at Ferrari was alleged to have been in possession of nearly 800 pages of confidential technical information relating to their car and passed it on to a friend at McLaren.

The friend’s wife is alleged to have taken the information to a local photocopy shop, as per Autosport, where the employee of the shop knew something was amiss. After contacting Ferrari about it, it set off a series of explosive events which led to McLaren being fined over £50 million, as per BBC Sport, by motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, and thrown out of that year’s Constructors’ Championship.

Allegations against McLaren and Ferrari engineers during Spygate scandal

The man at the center of ‘Spygate’ was Ferrari chief mechanic Nigel Stepney, who worked with the Maranello during their glory years with Michael Schumacher.

Following the departures of technical director Ross Brawn, team principal Jean Todt, and chief designer Rory Byrne, Stepney felt he deserved a promotion for his role in the ‘dream team’, as per Autosport, that propelled Schumacher to his five titles with the team.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

When he did not get the role he desired, Stepney stole hundreds of pages of confidential information relating to Ferrari’s F2007. He gave the contents to then chief designer at McLaren, Mike Coughlan, and the pair devised a plan to get jobs at a rival team.

When Coughlan attempted to produce copies of the blueprints, his wife took the plans to a local photocopy shop where the owner became suspicious. He emailed Ferrari about the contents and the ‘Spygate’ saga began.

Ferrari found out and filed a formal complaint against Stepney at the 2007 United States Grand Prix midway through the season, via Eurosport, leading to a criminal investigation by the Modena district attorney in Italy.

Stepney was later dismissed by the team and Coughlan was suspended from McLaren after the team announced it had taken action against him in the aftermath of a search warrant of Coughlan’s UK home.

Aftermath of Spygate and Fernando Alonso’s role

McLaren was cleared of any wrongdoing by the governing body at the first hearing of the World Motorsport Council by the FIA, based on the grounds that Coughlan had acted alone without knowledge of the team.

The second hearing later found that members of the McLaren team had withheld information relating to the case, leading to the record $100 million fine (£50 million) and the team being thrown out of the Constructors’ Championship even though there was no evidence it was used on the design of their cars.

The FIA chose not to penalise the drivers on the grounds that they cooperate with the hearing, meaning Hamilton and Raikkonen were able to continue their championship battle.

It is alleged that FIA president Max Mosley told team principal Ron Dennis that it was $5 million for the offence and $95 million for being a four-letter expletive. Mosley later denied he said it in his documentary ‘Mosley: It’s Complicated’ stating that it was former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone who made the remark to Dennis, as per The Race.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Part of the reason why there was a second hearing was due to a threat issued by then-driver Fernando Alonso to Dennis. Alonso was furious over the intra-team battle that had boiled over between him and Hamilton and threatened to release emails relating to the case to the FIA.

Dennis threatened to sack him, but Mosley claimed he was already made aware of the emails and told the McLaren chief to keep Alonso in the team. The Spaniard would later leave McLaren at the end of the season to return to Renault for the 2008 season.

Stephney was found guilty in an Italian court of “sabotage, industrial espionage, sporting fraud and attempted serious injury” and was handed a prison sentence of a year and eight months, according to ESPN, although no time behind bars was served.

Legal proceedings against McLaren employees in Italy were dropped in February 2009, with Coughlan having to pay £150,000 and later working for Williams according to The Guardian.

The aftermath of the scandal impacted McLaren’s engine partner Mercedes too, with the German manufacturer having to pay nearly half of the fine.