Spencifer_Murphy, you make clear you don't like Alonso anymore, even after being his supporter. However, you give no reasons. Could you enlighten us? I can't believe you don't like him only because he became a whistleblower under pressure, but that's your privilege. Anyway, you've been a rational partner in this forum for such a long time that I really think you must have some reasons. Until I hear them, well, I also saw Alonso's actions last year under the same "shadow" P.O.L. saw them.
I fail to express myself with so much "enthusiasm" as P.O.L., because I have friends here that are fans of McLaren (or Ferrari, or Renault, or...) , but basically he's explaining it well: Alonso was a pawn, and a good one, in a larger game.
I also don't share P.O.L.'s "clear view" of the motives of the actors, and I think that claiming to know those motives is pricky and rude (sorry, P.O.L.). The same way we ask here to "attack the post, not the poster" you could ask to "attack the action, not the driver" (or the manager, or the mechanic). To defend Alonso's personality while you attack Hamilton's is, to say the least, not very coherent. That's what I think both Hamilton and Alonso try to do: yes, you can protest because someone bumps into you, but you don't assume he did it because "he is evil". I don't try to see evilness when "stupidity suffices", as a general rule.
Consequently, I would say that the shadow I see in McLaren was not the shadow of an "evil team": that, I repeat, is a little stupid to say. What I see is the shadow of mismanagement of McLaren, which lost a championship already won. I try to understand McLaren management anyway, and I see it torn between the due loyalty towards a great WDC like Alonso and the loyalty toward a bright promess of the sport as Hamilton is. I also find hard to believe the theory of Coughland working "alone" in such a stable of bright minds, specially after Alonso's confession: that's why the title of this thread, rude and all, has a grain of truth in it. McLaren cheated, you can say, instead of Coughlan cheated.
About the claims that Ferrari cheated because they were stolen I find them moronic, but we'll never know why Stepney did it. There is a small (really small)
possibility that Ferrari allow him to do it on purpose, but I would say it has the same probability of americans not landing on the moon: it's purely a conspiracy theory until you have the hint of a proof, which we don't have.
Now, if McLaren cheating means they will be punished until the end of times, no, I don't think so.
That McLaren itself should be punctillous on swallowing all the punishments they deserve, like the pits position, well, yes, I think they should. I wouldn't expect nothing less from people as bright as the ones that normally conform a british racing team. That, I humbly believe, is the difference between a man of the caliber of Sir Frank William and a man of the (perhaps smaller) caliber of Mr. Ron Dennis.
For example, why in heaven, if you've been condemned to, I don't know, three months in jail, would you make a fuss over the colour of your prison uniform, specially when you're a public figure? This only magnifies the scandal and gives fodder to your opponents. You have to stay in prison for a while, take it like a man.
Now, this pit thing hasn't happened yet. Besides,
I understand is an offer from Bernie Ecclestone, not a request from Ron Dennis. So, until Dennis gives an answer, I reserve my judgement. Finally, until then, calling McLaren a cheater because of that offer is one of the most irrational assumptions I've seen in a long time.
For people that claims to know so well the feelings of the people involved, I find naive NOT to think in several "levels". For example, how do we know that this offer from Bernie wasn't made to embarrass McLaren?
