Allegations that a senior McLaren engineer received stolen documents from Ferrari are just the latest in a long and ignoble tradition of Formula One skullduggery...
- At the end of 1977 former drivers turned team managers Jackie Oliver and Alan Rees, together with designer Tony Southgate, had grown dissatisfied with the management style of Shadow team-owner Don Nichols, and defected - Southgate's Arrows FA1 bore a striking basic resemblance to Shadow's DN9, which he had also penned prior to leaving Nichols.
- (1978) When the gifted Lotus designer Colin Chapman and his staff harnessed undercar ground-effect aerodynamics to enhance the grip that the car could generate, thus creating a very significant performance increase, other designers scratched their heads... At the Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp that year Lotus personnel got a surprise when they returned to the track one night to retrieve something they had forgotten, and discovered Tyrrell's designer, the late Maurice Philippe, lying beneath the 79 taking in all of its secrets.
- Chapman himself was not averse to such underhand practice and at the Austrian Grand Prix in 1979 dispatched his team manager Peter Collins to acquire critical measurements from the successful Williams FW07. Collins duly got the information that Chapman had demanded but was caught red-handed in doing so, causing a minor scandal that soon died down.
- The late Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite, who was Ferrari's technical director, admitted that he had been the mastermind behind a clandestine break-in at the Williams garage during the German Grand Prix in 1980. A group of Ferrari personnel spent the entire night in the garage, wielding their tape measures and taking photographs of the car that would win Australian Alan Jones that year's championship.
- Frank Williams was livid when he heard about Collins and his tape measure that time in Austria, until one of his own team pointed out that every team, including Williams, was doing something similar.
- McLaren mechanics once discovered a senior BAR-Honda aerodynamicist in the back of one of their trucks, trying to measure up their car. They locked him in.
...and in other sports...
Rugby Union
- In the week leading up to the 2003 World Cup final in Sydney, the England coach Clive Woodward ordered their hotel rooms and training grounds to be swept for spying devices. It was feared the Australians were eavesdropping on secret team talks.
- Prior to a Test against England at Twickenham in 2005, New Zealand officials caught two men in camouflage gear in bushes filming the All Black training. They claimed to be from a news agency before running away. Both England and the agency denied any knowledge of them.
Football
- In April 2003 England accused Turkey of filming training prior to a Euro 2004 qualifier in Sunderland. Sven Goran Eriksson had planned to use a diamond formation but his changes were witnessed by a Turkish official posing as a charity worker.
- In November 2005 a newspaper alleged that the Manchester United dressing room had been bugged before a 1-0 home victory over Chelsea. The paper said they were offered the tapes by a "middle man".
- After a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in February this year, the Leeds manager, Dennis Wise, claimed one of his players had leaked team information to the opposition before kick-off. The player's identity was never revealed.
Cricket
- During England's 2006-07 Ashes tour detailed bowling plans for individual batsman were leaked to an Australian radio station. The plans had been pinned up in England's dressing room.
Netball
- In July 2006 the Australia netball coach Norma Plummer accused New Zealand spies of passing on team secrets prior to the two rivals' meeting. She accused former employees who were now working for the Kiwis.
Sailing
- A diver was found near the Nippon JPN-26 boat as it left San Diego harbour to sail in the first race of the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup semi-final. The diver turned out to be a friend of Le Défi Français skipper Marc Pajot, and he was said to have been sent to the other boat for a bet.
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