Nigel Roebuck: Fifth Column

Scene: a NASCAR race in Virginia, in the mid-'50s. Two of the stars of the day, Curtis Turner and Lee Petty (father of Richard) have had a torrid battle, and afterwards both their cars are in a sad state of repair. Petty thinks Turner has been playing it unduly rough, and resolves to discuss the matter with him.

He finds his rival, and sets about informing him of his shortcomings, but Turner, noting that Petty has only a rolled up newspaper in his hand, laughs it off. Big mistake. Petty hits him on the side of the head with it, and Turner goes out like a light. Inside the newspaper is a tyre iron.

That story came back to me as I read the contents of Max Mosley's letter to the McLaren drivers, which was released to the press last Friday. Although strictly polite in tone - 'The FIA formally requests...' etc, it was not to be taken lightly.

If the McLaren drivers came forth with any information relevant to the FIA's investigation of the 'Stepneygate' affair, they would be guaranteed personal immunity from proceedings under the International Sporting Code and the Formula 1 regulations. "However, in the event that it later comes to light that you have withheld any potentially relevant information, serious consequences could follow."

I somewhat doubt that Messrs Alonso, Hamilton and de la Rosa responded as did Curtis Turner all those years ago.

As I write this column, I am aware it will be published on the very day of the World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris, which will re-examine the crisis unleashed by Ferrari's Nigel Stepney in handing over Ferrari documents to McLaren's Mike Coughlan.

At the first hearing in July, remember, the unanimous conclusion of the council was that the 780-page dossier had indeed come into the hands of Coughlan, but there was insufficient evidence that McLaren had benefited from it. That being so, it was decided any punishment would be inappropriate.

Ferrari, predictably, reacted with screaming outrage, and quickly announced that the company was appealing against the council's decision, Luca di Montezemolo declaring that they would go to the ends of the earth in their quest to establish the truth, etc, etc.

As I say, the findings will be known within hours of this column's being read, so there is no point in trying to anticipate what they will be. At Monza both Ferrari and McLaren believed they had an extremely strong case. What I will say, though, is that the atmosphere in the paddock was toxic, and you heard the phrase 'witch hunt' wherever you went. Rightly or wrongly, the great majority believed everything was being done to destabilise McLaren at a crucial point in the world championship.

On Saturday - qualifying day - its motorhome was visited by Italian legal authorities, delivering notices that some team members were under investigation in connection with the 'spy saga'. Although the encounter was polite, McLaren issued a statement on Sunday: "We strongly suspect that the nature and timing of this wholly unnecessary contact, just before the start of qualifying, was to disrupt our preparation for this important session and Thursday's World Motor Sport Council hearing."

On Monday the Italian Minister of Justice denied there had been any pressure from Ferrari with regard to the timing of the legal representatives' visit. Whatever, there was widespread rejoicing when Alonso and Hamilton qualified first and second, and even more of it when they finished one-two in the race.

Never, in my experience, has one team had more people rooting for it than at Monza last weekend - apart, perhaps, from the 1999 Japanese Grand Prix, in which McLaren's Mika Hakkinen defeated Ferrari's Eddie Irvine in both race and world championship. We don't have the space to go into all that again...

Taking a wider perspective, there was enormous anger at the damage being done to the sport. In Germany last week the tone of the news coverage was linked strongly to the Tour de France, recently riven by scandal, and at Monza a man like John Hogan, one with a central involvement in the sport going back more than 30 years - described the current situation as, "The worst I have ever known in F1."

Why? Because, Hogan suggested, the damage being done to the sport's image was immeasurable, and, with an economic downturn upon us, that was potentially ruinous, in terms of companies contemplating a sponsorship involvement in F1. Tour de France sponsors, I'm told, are dropping like flies.

Jackie Stewart expressed similar sentiments: "There is never," he said, "a grand prix where there isn't a chairman or CEO or a president from one of the multi-nationals present. And for us to be doing this dirty laundry in public - knowing very well that this sort of thing has been going on for 57 years - is incomprehensible.

"Listen," Stewart went on, "the leakage of information has always gone on. F1 is one of the most incestuous industries in the world - and one of the most transient. Perhaps the only one that competes is the hotel industry - executives move from Hilton to Sheraton to Four Seasons to Ritz-Carlton all the time, and when they move, they take with them something the competition had, and now they want to bring it to their new employer.

"When I started Stewart Grand Prix, we hired people from Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Arrows, Jordan and God knows who else - and every single one of them brought with them intellectual property secrets..."

Just in their heads? I asked.

"Absolutely," said Jackie. "And some of them, I dare say, had pieces of paper they'd kept because they thought they were valuable to them. I didn't have anyone into the office, saying, 'By the way, I'm going to bring this with me...' I knew they were going to bring that with them! That's what has always happened.

"Adrian Newey left Williams and went to McLaren - he left a world championship- winning team and is anyone going to suggest he did that without taking any knowledge of Williams with him? For God's sake, that was one of the reasons why McLaren recruited him! Then he left McLaren and went to Red Bull - did he do that without taking extraordinarily important knowledge with him? Of course not!

"The chairman of Santander is coming to the race on Sunday, okay? I spent last weekend with him at Goodwood, and I can tell you he doesn't like what's going on. People like him don't like this sort of stuff!

"This kind of thing has been going on for years, so why the hell is all this being brought out in this way now? It's like someone saying, 'I've got dirtier underwear than you - and I want to show it to you!' Anyone with any sense would want to wash it in private, fold it immaculately, and put it in the drawer - that's the time to show it to someone...

"Of course, if there's illegality, it's got to be dealt with - no one should disagree with that. But I simply can't believe what's going on at the moment."

All we can do is hold our breath and hope for the best. If the atmosphere at Monza was poisonous, Spa could be something else again. Perhaps I'll take a tyre iron with me.