Tuesday October 19th, 1999

As all sides prepare for the hearing on Ferrari's appeal this coming Friday, new information is being revealed over how Ferrari's infringement was discovered.

Today's Daily Express reveals that the Ferraris of Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher had passed the technical test of the scrutineers at Sepang, they were weighed and cleared and were about to leave the inspection area when FIA's Joe Bauer suddenly called them back, only to immediately spot the missing 10mm on the cars' barge-boards.

This lead many within the F1 circus to believe that Bauer was tipped off by someone from a competing team as to the existence of the infringement. "We think someone alerted the FIA to this problem whereas before they have never given this a moment's thought, like the rest of us," said Jean Todt, the Ferrari sporting director. "I don't know who it was. We will have to wait and see."

In fact, many speculate that McLaren had already spotted the missing 10mm in Nurburgring, even had long-range photos taken of it, which were to be presented to the FIA in case of need. When Ferrari finished the Malaysian Grand Prix ahead of McLaren in both the Drivers and Constructors Championships, these pictures came to use. However, Norbert Haug, Mercedes sporting director, denied McLaren was involved, saying: "We did nothing to influence this action. It was an FIA decision, not ours. Rules are rules and we all know them."