Fortunate for McLaren

McLaren's renaissance convinces FIA to Spare team over lies scandal as the world motor sport council suspends three-race ban.

McLaren were fortunate to get away with a suspended threerace ban when the world motor sport council passed judgment on the team's admission that they had lied to race stewards. Lewis Hamilton has avoided further punishment following his disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix and can focus on the remainder of the season, starting with the Spanish Grand Prix on May 10.

In a statement the council said: "Having regard to the open and honest way in which (the) McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, addressed the WMSC and the change in culture which he made clear has taken place in his organisation, the WMSC decided to suspend the application of the penalty it deems appropriate. That penalty is a suspension of the team from three races of the FIA Formula One world championship. This will be applied only if further facts emerge regarding the case or if, in the next 12 months, there is a further breach by the team of article 151 (c) of the International Sporting Code."

MCLAREN PLEADED GUILTY on all five counts of breaching the ISC in relation to fraudulent conduct and acts prejudicial to the sport. Hamilton had been promoted from fourth to third place in Australia after Toyota's Jarno Trulli had been judged to have overtaken his McLaren when running behind the safety car. When pit-to-car radio transmissions later revealed that Hamilton had been ordered to let the Toyota overtake, both the reigning world champion and the then McLaren race director, Dave Ryan, continued to deny, at a meeting with the race stewards four days later in Malaysia that the manoeuvre had been an orchestrated tactical ploy.

WITHIN 48 HOURS RYAN HAD been sacked after 34 years with the team and Hamilton admitted he had been economical with the truth. On April 16, Ron Dennis, the man behind McLaren's 10 drivers' championships since 1981, stood down as chief executive of McLaren Racing, leaving Martin Whitmarsh in charge after 20 years as his right-hand man. Dennis said his move to the automotive side of the company had nothing to do with the case and denied it was a sop to the FIA and its president, Max Mosley, with whom he had a long-standing and fractious relationship.

WHITMARSH, WHOSE OFFER of resignation was rejected by the McLaren board, began an immediate damagecontrol campaign that included a letter of profuse apology to the FIA. This appears to have played its part in reducing a punishment that, at worst, could have excluded the team from the 2009 championship. One of the key aspects of the WMSC statement is the reference to "the change in culture" within McLaren. That significant transformation began with the departure of Dennis and the latest example was Whitmarsh's lone appearance at the hearing, forgoing the customary team of lawyers that might have accompanied him.

WHITMARSH, WHO CELEBRATED his 51st birthday, said: "I would like to thank the FIA world motor sport council members for affording me the opportunity to answer their questions this morning. We are aware that we made serious mistakes in Australia and Malaysia and I was therefore very glad to be able to apologise for those mistakes once again. I was also pleased to be able to assure the FIA WMSC members that we had taken appropriate action with a view to ensuring that such mistakes do not occur again."

GIVEN THE TRAUMA WHICH ensued and its effect on Hamilton, such mistakes are unlikely to be repeated. Whitmarsh and the team can put a very difficult month behind them and continue to build on their much needed improvement in performance that gave Hamilton fourth place in Bahrain. The resurrecting of McLaren's once-proud reputation may take longer, particularly after this affair ripped apart wounds that had only just begun to heal following the much more serious Ferrari spy scandal in 2007.

UNLIKE HIS PREDECESSOR Whitmarsh has learned lessons from two years ago and the only significant casualty on this occasion appears to have been Ryan. Only McLaren know why an employee with an impeccable reputation of 34 years' standing should take it upon himself to engage in a form of subterfuge that was so blatant and basic.

Given the former ethic of rigid control and now questionable claims of integrity espoused by Dennis - who was present in Melbourne - it might be fair to assume that the departure of the two men from the team is not unconnected.