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Nigel Stepney, one of the least credible faces in Formula One`s recent past, waited for the FIA to be concluded (with the McLaren discipline) and then, once again, worm his way into the headlines.
Now he says he was spying for both Ferrari and McLaren, with the help of Mike Coughlan – McLaren chief engineer.
Claiming that he got the confidential McLaren info from Coughlan. But, only verbally, so… no record exist and no proof. He also saiid he shared it with the Ferrari insiders, only verbally of course, with no real proof. Here`s his quote:
`I got weight distribution, I got other aspects of various parts of their car, and I was Ferrari`s employee at the time. The question is: did I use the information, did I talk about it? I spoke to some people about it. I can`t prove it, there are no e-mails or anything; points about the fuel and the differences between the teams were discussed inside`.
`I got information on them. Ferrari got off lightly. I got information about when they were stopping. I got weight distribution, I got other aspects of various parts of their car and I was Ferrari’s employee at the time. I was aware of certain stuff they [McLaren] were doing at tests, fuel levels for example. I think Ferrari should have been docked points personally`.
`But as well as McLaren having an advantage, did Ferrari have an advantage? I think so. It looks like information was flowing only one way. No one has been balancing the argument; no one has asked the question`.
Stepney claimed the information obtained came from Coughlan.
Stepney previously strongly denied giving any info to Coughlan.
Stepney now affirms he provided the same info to Peter Wright – the FIA technical director, and Charlie Whiting – race director, first by phone, then by e-mail and… he only told Coughlan about that later.
Mosley stated, during the FIA hearing, `if there was any hint of whistle-blowing, it was not in those documents.
He had the opportunity to whistle-blow at the beginning. He did not. Instead, he communicated the information to McLaren. The fact is that he did not give us information, despite being in touch with our people`.
Ferrari team head Jean Todt had comments that Stepney had turned out to have to mental issues:
`He was a difficult character. He was not an easy person, but he was a good professional`. When Ross [Brawn, a former designer] left he was aiming for a higher position than the one suggested for him. He said `I don`t want to come to races any more`.
`Then, after a good night, the emotion would calm down and he would say, `OK, I am happy to come`.
`We could not change our organization every week, so I said, `Finished. He will not come any more`.
`In this sense I did defend him, it is true, but I was never expecting the guy to lose his head. He lost his head, that`s all. Unfortunately, sometimes you have people who lose the sense of things and it`s a shame because we all have some personal responsibilities`.
`You should have some limits, some discipline and he did not know how to place limits on himself and the problem is that there is a high price to pay`.
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