No matter what we think about Monaco (and I too think MS lied – and I;m a fan) – it’s totally different as IT COULD NOT BE PROVEN

The McLaren lie could easily be proven – and it was admitted.

I believe the first lie was a DR/LH lie, but no way did RD or MW not know about it before the second lie happened in Malaysia….

McLaren did what they did in the spy case – plead guilty, apologised and took the penalty. This time IMO it was obviously an agreed penalty – and fair enough. McLaren were smart – in both cases the investigation stopped…and no none of us will know how far either transgressions really went… just what McLaren want. (as would any other team)

The point is that the highest positioned inviduals at which the cheating was known are the ones that should be punished for it. That doesn’t seem to have happened at McLaren – instead they’ve focused on one specific rung further down the ladder to take the heat, while those above who knew of (and by extension, approved of) the cheating have gone completely unpunished.

It’s a rather sad indictment of F1 that the sum total of McLaren’s punishment for knowingly having another team punished for something they didn’t do was to have five points removed from driver and team (or at most six, depending on whether you consider that Trulli would’ve been forced to surrender a place that Hamilton intentionally gave back to him). Beyond that, they got a gentle smack on the wrist – “don’t get caught cheating again for a bit, and we’ll let you off with it”.

The entire debacle happened because McLaren requested information from race control (do we need to let Trulli back through or not?) and never got it during the race.

Why is that allowed to happen?

I can’t think of another sport where it does.

I know, I know…. Charlie’s busy. He can have an assistant can’t he? (Even with cost caps, it’s cheaper than going to court…)

I know that the teams – and drivers – should know the rule book, and generally they do. However, complicated situations that are not neatly described by the rule book will always arise, and the Stewards’ and FIA’s variable responses to similar scenarios show that the rules are VERY open to interpretation.

Surely then the FIA has a responsibility to ensure that the teams can have a rapid response to rule clarification requests?
(Especially as it is determined to regulate every last thing in F1!).

You could say that to not do so brings the sport into disrepute… In fact, given how this year has gone so far, I’d say it already has.

The difference between McLaren in 2009 and Ferrari in 2006 is that Ferrari set out to cheat and then lied in attempt to succeed in their cheating, where as McLaren made a mistake and lost 3rd place and then attempted to lie to regain 3rd place.

I think the conscious act of setting out to cheat and lie in order to accomplish said cheating is worse than just lying in an attempt to undo a mistake.

Choose to disagree if you wish.

On a personal note I will never stand back silent while the truth is distorted and trampled on while injustice is allowed to reign.

Churchill said that all it takes for evil to succeed, is for good men to stay silent. No McLaren have not acted with honor or integrity. However that does not give license to anyone, the FIA included, to perpetrate injustice of this kind. It is wrong, it is inconsistent [moderated] and I for one will not stay silent!

There was always a very simple solution and that was for those who lied to lose their jobs. That did indeed happen to one of them, as we know, when Dave Ryan was scapegoated and was made the fall guy. However when the principal liar and cheat is apparently above the sport and any form of punishment, the inevitable result is an unedifying whitewash which makes the sport a laughing stock (yet again).