UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Spy saga would have cost MES ECU tender

Concerns over 'brain'

Nov.19 (GMM) McLaren was excluded from the 2007 championship amid accusations of espionage, but next year the 'brain' of every formula one car will be a system co-developed by the Woking based outfit.

According to Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost, however, the anomaly would not have occurred had F1's governing body known that McLaren would soon become embroiled in the biggest cheating scandal in the sport's recent history.

The FIA announced in July 2006 that Microsoft and McLaren Electronic Systems, which is based at the Mercedes-powered team's UK headquarters, had won the tender to supply standard electronics to the entire field in 2008 until 2010.

Toro Rosso's Tost, however, told the Austrian newspaper Tiroler Tageszeitung: "If the (ECU) contract had been awarded this year, this company would not have (secured the tender)."

Indeed, serious opposition within McLaren's rivals, including horror stories about the functionality of the 2008 ECU itself, did not emerge until after the espionage scandal broke.

We reported earlier this year that some teams were uncomfortable with the idea of forcibly working closely - including exchanging data - with a team that is accused of spying.

"How am I to trust a company that is at the centre of a spying scandal?" Renault's Flavio Briatore had said.

Written: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:05:23