UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Stepney speaks out

Ex-Ferrari man on saga

The Nigel Stepney-Mike Coughlan saga took another twist today when Stepney, the former Ferrari engineer accused of passing classified information to Mclaren designer Mike Coughlan finally spoke on the matter.

"I have been accused, but have not been charged with anything. I was officially sacked in May after 30 years in F1” the Englishman, who has now left Italy once again, explained.

Stepney went on to say when the problems began:

“I was aware there was a problem at Ferrari last September, when Ross (Brawn) announced his sabbatical. The structure was changing. I wanted a job similar to Ross’s which had evolved over 10 years. I still wanted to run the test and race teams and to report to Aldo Costa, the chief designer. He was the right person to report to, not Mario Almondo who was a Human Resources appointment. I thought having to report to him, and several others, was a backward step. I had previously only reported to Ross, and we had a great one-to-one relationship. He gave me a lot of support and guidance.”

"I did an interview with Autosport at Christmas and after that I was in a bad position within the new structure. My relationship with Jean Todt had really broken down.”

The story takes a rather sinister twist with Stepney insisting he – and his family – have been the victims of harassment:

"I have been followed, and so have my fiancée Ash with my year-old daughter Sabine. There have been high-speed car chases. We’ve been followed by more than one car, with Italian plates, and when we cornered one of them last Thursday evening the men in it refused to speak. I don’t believe they were journalists. There was tracking gear on my car."

Stepney also comments on the reasons for his sudden holiday in the Philippines:

"On May 17 there were legal moves against me by Ferrari. People were taken from the factory to the Carabinieri headquarters to be interviewed, but no charges were made against anyone. My house in Serramazzoni has been raided twice. After the thing with the Carabinieri I called Jean Todt to say I was going on holiday to the Philippines. I’d filled in the relevant form but it was on my desk and I hadn’t handed it in, and wouldn’t be coming back until this was all sorted out. We haven’t spoken since.”

Asked about his connections with Mike Coughlan, Stepney added:

Whenever I discussed anything with people in the factory in the course of doing my job, it got fed back to senior management. People became scared to talk to me. I was put in a position where it was difficult to do my job. By the end of March the situation was unbearable. I started to look at other teams, and approached Nick Fry. I met up with Mike [Coughlan] at the end of April – on the 28th in Port Ginesta in Spain. I’d had one meeting with Nick and didn’t want to go into a second one alone. At first Mike wasn’t looking at a move, but then three or four people at Ferrari indicated to me after reading stories of my approach to Honda that they would be interested in joining a technical group to go to another team. They wanted to follow us to go into a structure in which they felt comfortable. I categorically deny that any technical information passed between Mike and I during that meeting, or at any time. We mainly discussed the sort of infrastructure and tools we would need to get the job done in another team. I saw the future as helping to put such a structure into place at Honda. You don’t just take one team’s structure and bang it into another team - these things have to evolve, but Mike and I agreed to pool our expertise and talked about what we could bring to a team. Then we met Nick Fry together on June 1 at Heathrow."

About the documents allegedly taken from his home, and those found at Coughlan's in the UK, Stepney commented:

I was accused by Mario Almondo of taking some drawings. I had them in my possession legitimately because I needed them for work on the simulator, but it was reported by to him by the drawing office hat I had them. I got the papers and threw them on Almondo’s desk. The next day they were back on mine! I categorically deny that I copied them, or that I sent them to Mike Coughlan. I knew I was being watched all the time at the factory, and that everything I did or said was being reported back, and that people knew whenever I accessed files on the computer. Ferrari is terrified that what I have in my mind is valuable. But do you think Nicolas Tombasis came to Ferrari from McLaren without something in his mind? The new Ferrari front end aero came from McLaren, because he knew, it was in his head. I guess I know where the bodies have been buried for the last 10 years, there were a lot of controversies."

"I have no idea how Mike got them [the documents]. I don’t even know for sure that he has had documents. Categorically, he didn’t get them from me. If he has some, then they came from another source. I have nothing to hide; I might as well have left the keys to my house with the caretaker so anyone from Ferrari could go in. I am seriously doubtful that Mike has these documents.”

Stepney confessed to being ‘a bit confused’ about the whole scenario, but believes the legal system will prove him innocent.

Mike Coughlan has yet to comment.

Written: Sun, 08 Jul 2007 10:47:09