Newsgroup: it.sport.formula1.moderato
Titolo: [ENG] Now what?

Source: 
grandprix.com
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns19458.html
The dust has been settling over the Stepneygate decision at the FIA  
World
Council yesterday in Paris and while Ferrari and a few media outlets  
have
been making outraged noises about the decision, the fact is that the
federation has said its piece and unless Ferrari can come up with some
real proof that McLaren used the information found in Mike Coughlan's
house, it seems that the issue is now dead.
The general feeling in F1 circles seems to be that justice was done.
Having said that Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo has said that  
"this
story will not end here".
Possibly not, because some of the Ferrari people seem to have a fair  
head
of steam, but the question that they need to answer is where can it go
from here?
Ferrari has the option of taking civil or even criminal action against
McLaren but if there is not enough evidence to convince the World Motor
Sport Council it is hard to imagine that there is enough evidence to
convince the High Court to issue another search warrant in a civil  
action
as these are very difficult to get without compelling evidence - which
was exactly what was missing in the FIA hearing. Getting a search  
warrant
in a criminal action would be easier but McLaren would have some very
strong arguments about why Ferrari should not be allowed to see the
contents of its computers. One should perhaps add that if Ferrari is
right (and everyone else is wrong) about the ethics of McLaren, what
chance is there that there would be any incriminating evidence left in
McLaren's computers, a month after the story broke?
And, anyway, the legal process is slow and any case would be unlikely to
come to court for many months. The FIA regulations state that after the
end of each year, the results of that season cannot be challenged.
Ferrari might try for an accelerated legal process or might campaign for
that rule to be changed, but there are dangers in that course of action
as well.
Nigel Stepney's talk of knowing "where the bodies are buried" may be
dramatic - and may even be overblown - but who knows what Stepney knows;
what he may claim about Ferrari's successes under his watch and what
evidence he has to back up any claims?
In F1 circles, Stepney's "bodies" are the talk of the town and thus  
it is
interesting that the FIA wants Stepney and Coughlan to justify  
themselves
to the World Council. This will give the pair the opportunity to tell
their stories to the sporting authority - if they choose to do so. Both
are facing a lifetime ban from the sport and so their only real option
would seem to be to tell all and hope that they will not be banned.
Coughlan is likely to have done that in his affadavit and thus  
presumably
he has nothing left to tell, but Stepney has said relatively little  
about
what he has been up to. Faced with a lifetime ban from the sport in  
which
he has worked for 30 years, Stepney may relish the opportunity to tell
the FIA all about what he has seen and done over the years.
Print News Story
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