Top 10 scandals in the history of sports

F1 Espionage ‘Spygate’ controversy, 2007

Nigel Stepney of England and Ferrari leaked confidential Ferrari documents to McLaren.

In what was one of Formula One’s biggest scandals, a McLaren engineer was found possessing a 780-page document which contained confidential information and technical data of their rival team car, Ferrari. The McLaren team was fined a record $100m and also stripped of all points in the constructor’s championship for the 2007 season. Furthermore, they were not allowed to score any more points for the remainder of the season. The drivers were however spared of any penalties in return for co-operation and giving evidence.

Midway through the 2007 season, Nigel Stepney, Ferrari’s performance director, was sacked. McLaren’s chief designer Mike Coughlan was then found guilty of possessing Ferrari’s confidential document when his wife was caught trying to make copies of the data at a copy shop close to McLaren’s headquarters in Woking, UK. Stepney and Coughlan were team mates over twenty years ago at Lotus and it did not take Ferrari long to figure out who was responsible.

After a case was filed in Italy, Coughlan was sacked by McLaren. By the end of the proceedings, a number of teams like Honda and Renault and drivers like Pedro de la Rosa and Fernando Alonso’s names were also dragged into the case. The FIA was also involved in the investigation which eventually reached a conclusion with McLaren apologising publicly and Ferrari dropping the case against Coughlan in England in return for full co-operation.

The FIA then closed the matter with both teams also releasing statements stating the same, with McLaren offering to reimburse the case expenses to Ferrari.