McLaren have been excluded from the 2007 constructors' championship and fined US$100 million following Thursday's FIA World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris. Drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have not been penalized and are free to continue their fight for the drivers' title.

100 million fine  

McLaren lost much money+many sponsor cabut lari=????
when u not have enuf money,u only can`t maximize testing and car development
McLaren have crucial problem soon

...if McLaren have been thrown out for receiving confidential Ferrari material, what is to prevent a double agent causing the expulsion of a rival team in the future?

100 million is no small amount that one can just write off...
McLaren's future i must admit is in serious doubt if that is the case...
All i can say is that it's another farcical decision by the FIA
And where is the transparency? The FIA haven't provided any transcript of the hearing nor has it produced the evidence that they have claimed ruled McLaren to have used the data. It's all very fishy to me.

And this quote from P-F1 sums it best

McLaren boss Ron Dennis has expressed his frustration at the punishment handed out to his team on Thursday, maintaining that the Ferrari data found in the possession of suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan was never utilized by the team.

In a lengthy statement issued after the FIA's decision to fine McLaren and strip them of their 2007 constructors' points, Dennis insisted his team did not deserve such a penalty and claimed that the World Motor Sport Council hearing had failed to prove a case against them.

He said he could only speculate as to why Coughlan had amassed the Ferrari information in question, and said the FIA would find no problem with McLaren's 2008 car, as the team have never used intellectual property belonging to a rival.

Full statement from Ron Dennis:

"The most important thing is that we will be going motor racing this weekend, the rest of the season and every season. This means that our drivers can continue to compete for the World Championship. However having been at the hearing today I do not accept that we deserved to be penalised in this way.

"Today's evidence given to the FIA by our drivers, engineers and staff clearly demonstrated that we did not use any leaked information to gain a competitive advantage.

"Much has been made in the press and at the hearing today of emails and text messages to and from our drivers. The World Motorsport Council received statements from Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Pedro de la Rosa stating categorically that no Ferrari information had been used by McLaren and that they had not passed any confidential data to the team.

"The entire engineering team in excess of 140 people provided statements to the FIA affirming that they had never received or used the Ferrari information.

"We have never denied that the information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of our employees at his home. The issue is: was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today.

"We are also continually asked if McLaren didn't use the information, what was the reason for Stepney and Coughlan collecting all this data about Ferrari? We can only speculate as neither Coughlan nor Stepney gave evidence at today's hearing, but we do know that they were both seeking employment with other teams, as already confirmed by both Honda and Toyota.

"There will be no issue for the 2008 season as we have not at any stage used any intellectual property of any other team.

"We have got the best drivers and the best car and we intend to win the World Championship."

Following today's World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris, Ron Dennis, Chairman and CEO of the McLaren Group, and Martin Whitmarsh, COO of the McLaren Group, held a brief press conference. Please find the transcript of the open Q&A session below.

What is your next course of action?

Martin Whitmarsh:"We believe we have got the grounds for an appeal, but of course we are going to wait for the findings of the FIA, which we believe are going to be published tomorrow, and will consider those carefully before we make that decision.

Bearing in mind the precedent that has been set by this, do you feel now that you are the only team in Formula 1 who deserves to be punished for this sort of espionage? Do you feel that there are other teams out there who are doing the same thing and thus should receive the same punishment?

Martin Whitmarsh:"The starting point is we do not believe that we should have been punished in this way. I think today we should just concentrate on this hearing and this situation, not what's happening to other teams."

Do you think FIA president Max Mosley's attitude has changed from the last World Motor Sport Council meeting since the first hearing in July?

Ron Dennis:"I have no comment on that."

What was the new evidence given to the FIA today and the FIA statement says that your drivers are not punished because they helped the FIA to make the truth?

Ron Dennis: "I can tell you that the evidence today was primarily email traffic between our drivers, and in one instance, Mike Coughlan."

Martin Whitmarsh: "As we've said earlier, these were a few emails, and the drivers have stated categorically that no information was passed to the team."

Ron Dennis: "And of course the team had no knowledge of this email traffic at any stage."

How damaging financially is a fine of that size to a company like McLaren?

Ron Dennis: "Firstly, effectively, we will still have as an offset the revenue from the points earned to date. That will probably, effectively half the size of the cheque that we ultimately have to sign, if we ultimately accept this fine. But as you can see if you read our accounts, we turn over roughly $450-500 million a year, and we are debt-free. So obviously we are a very strong company, phenomenal growth."

Would something like today make you consider your future?

Ron Dennis: "My personal future was never in question as far as I was concerned. I'm very committed to this company, I'm very passionate about motor racing, and I have absolutely no intention of retiring. Save for I've made a firm commitment to Martin to succeed me as CEO, and that decision, whenever it's taken, will not have any bearing on today's affair or any other issue of this year."

How is this going to affect the future of your drivers?

Ron Dennis: "We have contracts with both of our drivers, multi-year contracts, and there has been no discussion about varying them. We have two of the best drivers in the world, and our commitment to winning races is undiminished. That's what we exist to do, is to win races. If there is any variation to those contracts, it will be by mutual agreements."

Do you have a feeling after today that the FIA is measuring with two measuring sticks?

Ron Dennis: "I'm not going to make any comment as to the FIA's findings, other than the fact that we are firmly of the opinion that we definitely do not concur with their findings. But until we have all the details from the FIA, it is impossible for me to have a position on it. They've issued the penalties, but they haven't issued the actual findings, and it would be wholly inappropriate for me to make any comment until we have those findings."

- ENDS -

100M! that's not small amount (may be small amount for Roman, hahaha), but 100M, how many years of sponsorship only can earn back that amount?
They are in deep shit situation....