F1 veteran backs McLaren amid spy saga
''To me it makes no sense'' - Gascoyne
06/07/07 10:13
One of F1's most experienced engineers has backed McLaren by doubting that the allegedly stolen material from Ferrari is now being used by the Woking team.
Team boss Ron Dennis wiped tears from the corners of his eyes on Thursday as he defended the integrity of his Mercedes-powered, after chief designer Mike Coughlan was suspended for suspected industrial espionage involving his former Ferrari colleague Nigel Stepney.
Reports this week suggested that no fewer than 500 pages of secret information had changed hands, covering wide-ranging aspects of Ferrari's team methods as well as technical data.
But Spyker's Mike Gascoyne, who also recently worked for Toyota and Renault as technical director, told the Telegraph: "Look at it in general terms.
"McLaren are a very professional team, very experienced. They have been around for 30 years and they have been winning races very recently."
"The sort of things that these documents are supposed to describe...
McLaren will have their own ways of doing them."
Gascoyne said Dennis, renowned for a level of meticulousness that verges on obsessiveness, would have been genuine on Thursday when he delivered the message that if Coughlan is found to have done anything wrong, it won't have found its way onto the MP4-22 single seater, which has won four of the eight races so far in 2007.
Gascoyne said: "Knowing McLaren, and their management, I simply can't see them condoning anything like this.
"To me it makes no sense."
Source GMM
CAPSIS International