P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Bernie Ecclestone had one or two things to say about McLaren boss Ron Dennis after the spy-gate saga broke.
The spy-gate scandal in F1 history nearly led McLaren to extinction, involving Ferrari’s Nigel Stepney giving private design documents to McLaren’s Mike Coughlan. The scandal unfolded when Coughlan’s wife took the stash to a photocopier shop, alerting a Ferrari fan owner who informed Stefano Domenicali. Despite McLaren being initially cleared, new emails surfaced during the Alonso/Hamilton dynamic, leading to a $100 million fine and exclusion from the constructors’ championship McLaren was set to win. Ecclestone highlighted the longstanding issue in F1, criticizing McLaren for not coming clean earlier, while Mosley was harsher towards Ron Dennis, implying he got off lightly. Renault was also found with McLaren documents but escaped punishment due to lack of evidence of usage.
