FIA Showed Mercy to McLaren Thanks to Dennis' Quit

No doubt about it, the fact that McLaren Mercedes did not “benefit” from the presence of former team principal Ron Dennis during this week's World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris was the main reason why FIA handed the Woking based team such a light penalty.

Although not stating it in so many words, FIA president Max Mosley made it very clear that it was McLaren's decision to switch to a cultural change that saved the team. In addition, he argued that there would be no point in punishing the team as long as the ones guilty of lying to the FIA stewards have already left the team.

Mosley's comments left plenty of room for interpretation, as it was not only sporting director Dave Ryan who left McLaren but also Ron Dennis. Considering Mosley's tensioned relationship with Dennis in recent years, we'd bet the former McLaren boss was actually the target of those comments.

In addition, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that current McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh also argued, in his team's defense, that the people responsible for the lie-gate have now left the organization.

“On Wednesday, as relieved McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh emerged from a 50 minute hearing with his team in the clear, the sense that Dennis had paid the biggest price for his role in the affair was unavoidable. In a comment which appeared to be a reference to Dennis's decision to step sideways and become executive chairman of McLaren Automotive, Whitmarsh said afterwards: 'Anyone involved in a decision to mislead the stewards has now left,'” reported the aforementioned source.

Dennis left McLaren F1 team for the executive chairman seat within McLaren Automotive on April 16, a move that was mostly regarded as Mercedes' way of waving good bye to the 61-year old Englishman.