Formula 1 News

Montezemolo: the fight will continue 

Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said today his team had not accepted defeat in the McLaren spying story. In Paris on Thursday the FIA, Formula One’s governing body, cleared McLaren of any wrongdoing, ruling there was not enough evidence to suggest the British team had benefited from confidential Ferrari documents which ended up in the hands of their chief designer, Mike Coughlan.

But Montezemolo insisted the fight would continue, promising fans of the Italian outfit they would not lie down. “I want to say to the fans from all over the world who have been contacting Ferrari, offended by the decision taken in Paris yesterday, that they should remain calm because this story will not end here,” he was quoted as saying by Italian news agency ANSA.

Earlier today, Ferrari’s executive director Jean Todt, said the team were mulling their next move. “We are reflecting on what to do after the incomprehensible and grave decision made in Paris,” said the Frenchman. “It’s difficult to understand that one who is deemed to be guilty goes unpunished.”

Despite clearing them, the FIA warned that if in the future McLaren were found to have used the information passed on to Coughlan they risked being kicked out of Formula One for the 2007 and 2008 season.