As a result, the FIA have proceeded to handing the Woking based team a suspended 3-race ban. What that means is that the penalty will be applied only if further information on the “lie-gate” appear during the course of this season. Also, no point deduction was agreed upon by the FIA judges, which practically means McLaren have managed to walk away unscarred from the scandal.
The FIA motivated their decision by “having regard to the open and honest way in which McLaren Team Principal, Mr Martin Whitmarsh, addressed the WMSC and the change in culture which he made clear has taken place in his organization, the WMSC decided to suspend the application of the penalty it deems appropriate.”
After walking away from the Paris hearing, Whitmarsh expressed his apology over what happened once again, while also thanking the international body for their understanding of the situation.
“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,” said Whitmarsh.
“I was also pleased to be able to assure the FIA World Motor Sport Council members that we had taken appropriate action with a view to ensuring that such mistakes do not occur again,” added the Englishman.
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