[croaker]

Originally Posted by nmulax

But you're forgetting that the FIA has already announced they'll be watching McLaren closely for the remainder of the season, just to make sure they don't do anything malicious to Alonso.

And Fernando didn't "make a deal for himself". The FIA contacted the drivers (Hamilton included) saying that if they had info and came forward, they would not be punished; but if it was found out about later, then they would face serious consequences.

No doubt. Fernando knew he would not be punished when he handed over the information. Which must be why he did not fess up before the first trial. However, that also says something about him doesn't it? Based on the findings the FIA released it was obvious that Alonso knew the data was from a source at Ferrari. I'm not going to get on him too much for that since I think most drivers would have been interested in the info, but he had to know that those e-mails were something he should have told Ron Dennis about right away once the whole spy thing broke. Apparently he didn't. Instead he kept his mouth shut until he tried to use that info for leverage (He denies he ever did this, but who knows). Whatever the circumstances behind how the e-mails came to Ron and the FIAs attention one undeniable thing is that the squeaky image Alonso has built up around himself over the last few years has become very tarnished.

As for the FIA watching them for the rest of the season. The team could very easily say, "OK Alonso, we have three races left and Hamilton is still leading in the championship. We are going to throw our efforts behind him and need you to run cover for him. Ferrari is about to do the same thing with Kimi and Massa. Alonso would cry about it, but at this point I don't think the FIA would give a shit. What are they going to do fine the team another 100 Million? I doubt it.