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Former McLaren CEO Ron Dennis found himself on the receiving end of some choice words from former FIA President Max Mosley in the aftermath of the infamous "Spygate" scandal in 2007. The duo were often seen butting heads against each other in their battle to fight for the heart and soul of Formula One from 1992 to 2007 with both entities having several personality clashes.
At the turn of the century, Dennis alleged Mosley had failed to display "impartiality and independence" while serving as the head of the governing body of the sport, and claimed he favored Ferrari. He also claimed that Mosley was jealous of his achievements as team principal in F1 given the latter's time with March in the '60s. The team failed to win a world championship and won two races across its time in the sport, which lasted more than two decades under different names.
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The former FIA President too wasn't shy in retaliating and throwing jabs at McLaren. Some of his comments pertained to the British team failing to challenge Ferrari and its use of illegal parts in its challenge against the Italian team. However, the public feud reached a crescendo when McLaren was found guilty of holding documents regarding Ferrari's intellectual property in the 2007 season.
The British team was fined a whopping $100 million for the offense, which remains the highest sports penalty in the sport's history. However, many believed that it was Max Mosley's personal vendetta against Ron Dennis that led to McLaren getting such a severe punishment. Mosley was reported by some in the paddock to have said the following to Dennis after the verdict was announced,
“You were fined $5m for the offence and $95m for being a ****.”
The controversy rocked the world of motorsport and saw then-two-time world champion Fernando Alonso depart the team at the end of the season after just one year. The British team was also disqualified from the constructor's championship in 2007 and was stripped of all its points.
When Fernando Alonso opened up about his 2007 season with McLaren
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso said in 2021 he believed that the 2007 championship wasn't "well managed" by the Woking-based outfit as it resulted in both him and Lewis Hamilton losing the title to Kimi Raikkonen in the season finale.
Speaking with Autosport, the Spanish driver said,
“I can only speak for myself, but for sure you are different when you're 13 years older than back then. And more mature and you see things maybe definitely. As I said many times, I don't think that we were very well managed that year.
“We had a very competitive package, but we managed to lose against the Ferraris. They were fast, yes, but I don't think as fast as we were. But yeah, we were, as I said, not well-managed. But I still have good memories from that year. And hopefully, we can go back to those days and fight for the championship together.”
Both Alonso and Hamilton finished the season tied on points and lost the title to Raikkonen by a single point as the Finn won the last two races to take his only title in F1.
