Formula 1: Top 5 Scandals and Controversies 

#2‘Spy-Gate’ - 2007

Nigel Stepney

Theft, corporate espionage, and a blunder of epic proportion, 2007’s infamous Spy-Gate controversy involving Ferrari and McLaren had it all. The entire controversy came to light when Ferrari announced in June, 2007, that they had dismissed chief mechanic Nigel Stepney and also started legal proceedings against an engineer from McLaren, Mike Coughlan.

Initially, Ferrari stated that Stepney had been dismissed as a result of irregularities at the Ferrari factory before that year’s Monaco Grand Prix, but later spoke to the Italian media and said that the case against Stepney and Coughlan was with regards to the theft of technical information.

High Court proceedings were opened in Italy and FIA conducted its own investigation, with details coming out that Stepney, who had been unhappy with how Ferrari was being run ever since Ross Brawn had left, had leaked over 800 pages of technical information regarding Ferrari’s 2007 car and future plans to Mike Coughlan. Ferrari had been unaware that something of this magnitude had taken place, and were only alerted to the fact after a blunder by Mike Coughlan’s wife, Trudy Coughlan.

Trudy Coughlan had dropped off the information at a local photocopy shop in Surrey, England. The guy running the shop turned out to be a massive Ferrari fan, and when he saw the pages he had been given to photocopy were confidential and contained vital Ferrari information, he immediately contacted Ferrari, and told them about the information in his possession which led to the entire scandal being unearthed.

Ferrari ultimately reached a settlement with the Coughlans, but as a result of the investigation, McLaren were disqualified from the 2007 Constructor’s Championship, and were fined a record-breaking, $100 million.

Then McLaren drivers Hamilton and Alonso were allowed to continue competing in the driver’s championship, but it was Ferrari who won the Constructor’s championship virtually unopposed. The entire episode served as a reminder of the stakes involved in F1 and is now considered one of the biggest scandals in F1 history.