As Mercedes ends another successful season as the winners of the World Constructors’ Championship and World Drivers’ Championship titles for the second consecutive season, they end the year on a sad note. The team has filed a lawsuit against a former employee.
The lawsuit was filed with the UK High Court against Benjamin Hoyle. Hoyle has worked with Mercedes AMG, as a Performance Application Team Leader in 2012 and was set to leave the team to transition to Ferrari at the end of the year. He informed the team earlier in the season that he would resign from his position at the end of the year.
According to Mercedes’ claim, Hoyle had attempted to steal sensitive team data before he exited the team. The team alleges that they employee had plans to join Ferrari for the 2016 season, bringing Mercedes data with him. Among the data was reportedly statistical information about the mileage and damage of the Mercedes engines, along with a technical race report from the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix.
“A legal action is underway involving Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Ltd and an employee who is due to leave the company at the end the year. The company has taken the appropriate legal steps to protect its intellectual property,” Mercedes told Racing Clothesline, when asked for comments about the legal situation. “We ask for your understanding that we do not wish to comment further on this matter.”
This situation is similar to the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy, better known as Spygate. The Spygate case was filed by Ferrari in June of 2007 in the Italian courts. The Italian team believed that some of their confidential technical data was given to McLaren, while McLaren believed that data about their own car had fallen into the hands of the Renault F1 Team. Following criminal and FIA investigations, McLaren was given the largest fine in Formula One history and were excluded from that season’s World Constructors’ Championship.
Although we probably won’t see the same level of punishment in the Mercedes case as we saw in the McLaren case, it is difficult to predict what any guilty parties will receive. Seeing as the lawsuit was only recently filed, it has not been confirmed whether these allegations are true.
