26/11/2003
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
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Previously, when writing about the Ferrari/Toyota scandal, I have stressed that I had no inside information. I now am told, however, that my hunches have been on the button. I can now provide some more details.
On 30th October, German police raided the headquarters of Toyota Motorsport in Cologne and seized drawings, CD-Roms, disks and computers. They also invited former Ferrari aerodynamicist, Angelo Santini, to answer questions.
This was at the request of Fausto Casari, deputy chief prosecutor of Modena, and the man leading the investigation into alleged industrial espionage. Italy follows the French model in that investigations are headed by a judge.
On 3rd November, Modena police searched a local business and also the home of the managing director. Two people in the area have been warned that they are under investigation. According to the Italian paper. Gazzetta dello Sport, they are Mauro Iaccoca and Antonio Tentoro, and the company is Aerolab.
Aerolab appears to be a small private operation with no connection to the famous American windtunnel company of the same name. Aerolab (Modena) is not listed as a member of the local business association, though the name suggests that it specialises in aerodynamics. It undertook subcontract work for Ferrari until 1999. Santini, Iaccoca and Tentoro are former employees of Ferrari and all are associated with Aerolab. Mauro Iaccoca is employed as a consultant to Toyota Motorsport.
According to The Indianapolis Star, 7th November, Dave Richards, principal of BAR-Honda, has confirmed that individuals, whom he did not name, had approached him nearly two years ago with a proposition. In return for well-paid positions with BAR, they could supply sensitive data from another team.
Correctly, Richards, would not elaborate, but you can bet that these people were not offering secrets of the latest Minardi. If they approached BAR, did they approach anyone else? Did anyone tip off the team whose secrets were being offered?
After Santini was questioned, Toyota Motorsport issued a statement disassociating itself from Santini and claimed that the alleged espionage was the responsibility of Santini alone. According to a report in The Guardian, (UK) filed on 5th November, Santini was allowed to return to work.
One moment Santini was being branded as the sole culprit, the next moment and he was back at his desk. Does this strike you as a little odd? Iaccoca continues to be a consultant to Toyota Motorsport.
I have heard is that it was widely known within Toyota that a considerable amount of Ferrari data was in circulation in the factory. There was no doubting this since drawings bore Ferrari's logo.
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Some Toyota engineers became frustrated because their ideas were being overlooked in favour of Ferrari plans. Highly qualified and motivated people had moved to Cologne and may as well have been digging up holes and filling them in again. Do you suppose that they did not mention their frustration to their line-manager?
There has even been suggestions that data from Ferrari continued to arrive at Toyota after February 2002, when Santini joined the team. It has been suggested that it may have been in Ferrari's interest not to stem the flow since the more data Toyota used, the greater would be the case against the team. Why not? Toyota was not going to win in 2003.
If the plans offered to Dave Richards were indeed those of the Ferrari F2000, how long has Ferrari known that it designs were being offered to other teams?
As I have observed before, copying is endemic in Formula One. When an engineer leaves one team to join another he carries information in his head. Some have taken the precaution of having stored data at home to provide 'inspiration' when the creative juices are not flowing.
There is nothing anyone can do about that, it goes on. Over time, it is like a group of friends meeting to play poker. You win some and lose some, but when Toyota was invited to the game, it appears to have arrived with a shaved deck and cards up its sleeve.
My understanding is that not only was the use of Ferrari plans widely known throughout Toyota, but that components, particularly those connected with aerodynamics, were made directly from drawings which bore the Ferrari logo.
I have also been told that Ferrari documents were handed round at meetings of senior personnel.
I believe that, early this year, a directive was issued asking that all such data be destroyed. Most was but, apparently, Santini was not diligent in complying with the directive.
I am told that the police did not find every item of incriminating evidence which was on the premises.
After Santini was arrested, I am told, an e.mail was sent to all employees. The gist was that the company had been twice let down in recent weeks by the behaviour of individuals. The first occasion was the behaviour of some senior personnel at the drunken binge following Michael Schumacher's Championship win. The other pointed the finger at Santini. Employees were warned to be responsible for their own behaviour.
Despite the fact that the use of Ferrari data was widely known within Toyota, senior management appears determined to be the innocent, wounded, party in the affair. How can you call yourself a manager, and continue to draw a salary, and not know what is going on in your company or department?
In Formula One terms, Toyota Motorsport is isolated. You could not sell Ferrari plans to a British-based team. The reason is not that Brits are more honest, there are plenty working for Toyota and the guy who ordered the destruction of Ferrari material is a Brit. It's not a matter of honesty, but of geography.
Much of the British motor racing industry is based in a very small area. You can change jobs without moving house or disrupting the children's education. If you move from Tweedledum F1 to take up a job with Tweedledee Grand Prix, you change loyalties and if Tweedledum has been up to no good, Tweedledee soon knows about it.
You can have engineers from three different teams living side by side in the same small village. They may even enjoy a drink together in the local pub, together with a friend who subcontracts for a fourth team. Little remains secret for long in the British motor racing community. I guess much the same is true of North-West Italy.
Toyota Motorsport is not only based a fair distance from the rest of Formula One, but it has an unusually international mix of personnel. My guess is that makes it a great deal more difficult to establish a team culture.
The information that I have received leaves me in no doubt that industrial espionage was known at a very high level in Toyota Motorsport. The real question is at what level was it known at the Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan?
Every motor company buys examples of its rivals' products to evaluate them, which often means stripping them to the last nut, bolt and washer. That is why Ford knew long before the British Motor Corporation that the original Mini was guaranteed to lose money, and it did.
Toyota has never made a secret of the fact that when it launched 'Lexus' it had Mercedes-Benz in its sights. For a time, Toyota was one of Mercedes-Benz's best customers. That's fine, all companies do it. It is perfectly legitimate to buy a product on the market, but the Ferrari F2002 has never been offered as a production model. It is one thing to buy a product, another to buy stolen plans.
Toyota has been the sole owner of Toyota Motorsport GmbF in 1993, the company was previously called Team Toyota Europe. Its founder, Ove Andersson, was a leading rally driver and among his co-drivers was Jean Todt. Andersson is the President of Toyota Motorsport, but the Chairman and Vice-President are Japanese.
Toyota was barred from the World Rally Championship because it was caught cheating. There are people involved with the Toyota Formula One team who were also involved with the cheating in the rally team.
This is not a matter of opinion, speculation, or rumour, it is fact. Toyota was excluded from the World Rally Championship by the FIA.
Who was in charge of the Toyota rally programme? Ove Andersson, who knew nothing about the cheating. Who is the President of Toyota Motorsport? Ove Andersson, a man who knows nothing about alleged industrial espionage.
Hey, I know absolutely nothing about a lot of things. How can I get a high-paid job where the main qualification is ignorance? If ignorance is the main criterion, I could set up as a brain surgeon: Lobotomies-U-Like.
Toyota Motorsport has claimed that only Angelo Santini, acting on his own initiative, is involved. Were I in an executive position at Toyota and this landed on my desk, I would not object if my PR department made such a claim.
I would look at the size of the current Formula One grid and wonder how much F1 needs my team. I would ask myself whether anyone a year or so in the future would actually care how many points Toyota scored in 2003? Who remembers that Michael Schumacher was excluded from the 1997 World Championship for driving outside the limit of the rules?
I would look at the speed at which Italian investigating authorities typically proceed. I would also consider the record which the motor racing media has in pursuing a story.
I would reckon that if I kept a low profile for long enough, it would all be fine in the end.
The big question is what will Bernie and Max do about it? Why do I bother to ask? They will say that a judicial inquiry is under way so it is inappropriate to comment until it has been resolved.
A few years ago, I interviewed Max Mosley and asked him about the FIA's attitude to teams caught cheating. His reply was, in full: "You can never be 100% sure when you're dealing with things as complex as electronics, and computer programs with several million lines of source code, which modern grand prix cars have, But anyone who did do something stands a good chance of being caught and the penalties will be Draconian. We demonstrated with the Toyota rally team that if we come across anything that is clearly designed to subvert the rules, then we will suspend the team.
"Suspending Toyota cost us a lot in the World Rally Championship, it cost us more than suspending a team in Formula One would, but if we suspended a team in F1 like we did Toyota, they would be out of business."
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