By Biranit Goren Saturday, September 15th 2007, 13:00 GMT
FIA president Max Mosley has questioned McLaren team chief Ron Dennis’s integrity in his dealing with the governing body during the spying affair - but Dennis himself has defended his actions by insisting he was truthful throughout.
Mosley recounted the events that led the FIA to contact the McLaren drivers and request their collaboration, which resulted in new evidence submitted to the World Motor Sport Council against McLaren.
And the FIA president believes Dennis was not telling him the whole truth on the affair.
Speaking on ITV today, Mosley said: "On the morning of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ron rang me and he said, ‘I’ve just had Alonso in the motorhome and he says he’s got information and he’s threatening to give it to the Federation.’
"So I said, ‘What did you say Ron?’ He said, ‘I said, go on and hand it over.’
"I said, ‘Ron, you said exactly the right thing.’
"And then Ron said, ‘But there isn’t any information.’
"So I said, ‘So it’s an empty threat?’
"And he replied: ‘Yes, a completely empty threat. There’s no information, there’s nothing to come out; I can assure you that if there was something, Max, I would have told you.’
"Now this was a week after looking me in the eye in the World Council and telling me there was absolutely nothing wrong and everybody had done exactly as they should do, so I believed him.
"I’ve known Ron for 40 years; it’s very difficult for me, when somebody I’ve known for 40 years looks me in the eye and says, ‘Max, I’m telling the truth with complete sincerity’ - you believe him.
"It was only when I got the list from the Italian police [showing] 323 SMS phone calls going over a three-month period between Coughlan and Stepney, [that I concluded] there had to be more to this.
“You don’t get 300 messages arranging a visit to Honda. This is something serious. At which point, I sat down and wrote the letter to the drivers, and the rest is history.”
Dennis quickly responded to Mosley’s accusations, defending his actions and stating at the time of speaking with Mosley, he was telling the truth based on what he himself knew at the time.
“I was a little surprised by what Max said,” Dennis told ITV. "I am working hard to get closure on a very unpleasant experience that McLaren have had.
"I don’t want to get into the detail, but I do want to address one thing, and that is that when someone asks me a question - and I’ve answered some difficult questions - at the time I made those answers I told the complete truth.
"At the point of the first hearing, when I was asked the question did I know anything more, the truth was, I didn’t.
"The emails that passed between our drivers were as big a surprise to me when I heard, as anyone else - and as I said, if they existed, what I said to Fernando was that he must give them to the FIA.
"I just want to be very clear that at no stage did I ever say any lie to anybody.
“I put my integrity above everything. I just want to be very clear about that particular point.”
By Alan Baldwin Saturday, September 15th 2007, 12:46 GMT
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has defended Fernando Alonso against suggestions the Formula One champion should be fired for his role in a spying scandal that cost the team a title and $100 million.
Revealing how a row with the Spaniard on the morning of last month’s Hungarian Grand Prix triggered a phone call that led to the loss of all McLaren’s 2007 constructors’ points and a record fine, Dennis made clear on Saturday he had only one aim.
“My job is to win the world championship. My job isn’t for people to love and hug me,” he told British reporters at the Belgian Grand Prix after being asked directly why he had not fired his driver.
"If I have difficult relationships with people, I have difficult relationships with them. You don’t take your guns out and shoot people every which way.
“It’s not a love-in. I want to have positive relationships with my drivers but it’s difficult sometimes.”
While Dennis would not go into details of their meeting in Budapest, he said Alonso had mentioned e-mails in his possession that could incriminate the team in an investigation into leaked Ferrari data.
British newspaper reports on Saturday accused the 26-year-old of demanding at the meeting that the team either make him their number one driver or let him go, and threatening to go to the governing FIA.
The Guardian quoted Alonso’s manager Luis Garcia denying the reports as “complete rubbish”.
The Spaniard, reported to be seeking a return to Renault, had been stripped of pole position and demoted five places the day before for impeding 22-year-old British rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying.
Alonso’s relationship with the team had already turned sour by then over their refusal to favour him over championship-leading Hamilton.
“Fernando arrived, pretty upset by many things. I’m not going to give you the detail,” said Dennis.
"In a conversation that took place he said ‘I have something in my e-mail system which is from one of your engineers’.
"(McLaren chief executive) Martin (Whitmarsh) and I looked at each other and Martin said ‘Fernando should inform the FIA’.
"When Fernando left, I phoned the FIA. I told them what happened and put the phone down.
“Half an hour later, Fernando’s manager came back and said ‘look I’m sorry, he was angry blah blah blah’ and retracted everything,” said Dennis.
The Briton said he again rang the FIA and after the race Alonso came to his office and apologised for what had happened.
At the end of the month, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) wrote to the McLaren drivers asking them to hand over any information they had about Ferrari technical information obtained from now-suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan.
The FIA on Friday published e-mails from the team’s test driver Pedro de la Rosa and Alonso, evidence presented at a hearing in Paris that imposed the sanctions on McLaren.
Dennis likened the Hungary incident to a domestic row when one partner says something that they did not mean and then regretted.
“That is the benefit I am giving to Fernando,” he said. “My objective is to win races. I believe that if someone says things, and subsequently retracts them and apologises, I move on.”
Dennis also dismissed a suggestion that Alonso’s behaviour towards him had been the most extreme he had experienced from a driver in 40 years in the sport.
“It’s the most extreme thing that you know about,” he said. “I could tell you some things…I would like you to understand the nature of competitive animals. They know no limit.”
Finally people are starting to see alonso for the fagboy he is. I think I’ve hated him more than Speed the past few years.