IF EVER a sport, or a business, could be defined by the phrase 'smoke and mirrors', it is surely Formula One motor racing.

The World Motor Sports Council treats its followers as gullible, if it thinks that a US$100 million (S$152 million) fine on the McLaren team buys public confidence in its game.

The fine relates to alleged industrial espionage by the British racing team McLaren against the Ferraris of Italy.

Frankly, the F1 line today is as credible as its stunt a few years back telling us it was the green sport, planting forests to cleanse the air we breathe.

You believe them? Probably not. Me neither.

Leaked reports in the last few days refer to 200 telephone calls and 100 e-mail messages passing between Nigel Stepney, while he was Ferrari's mechanic, and the McLaren chief designer, Mike Coughlan.

They were highly-placed individuals in F1's two fastest rivals. Stepney has been sacked, while Conughlan has been suspended, since the allegations surfaced in June.

Stepney faces a criminal trial in Modena, the home of Ferrari. He is accused of passing on trade secrets from Ferrari, and sabotaging the famous scarlet cars on track.

With rumour, denial and counter-rumour, the fans are fed a web of deceit as bewildering as the sci-fi technology that goes into the cars.

The two men are left hanging out to dry.

McLaren repeat the mantra that their former designer did receive data on Ferrari in his own home, but never once did the British team use one iota of that information to enhance their performance.

I spy imaginary pigs flying faster than 320kmh racing machines and lapping the tracks.

At every turn of the wheel, the authorities render this case ever more incredulous.

F1 is cutting-edge science dressed up as sport. Industrial espionage, and yes sabotage, was part of motor-racing folklore before most fans were born.

So why do you imagine were McLaren fined more in one day than every other team throughout the half-century that men have raced cars at speeds that sometimes kill the best of them?

Ron Dennis, the principal of McLaren, admirably worked his way up from shop-floor mechanic to multi-millionaire boss of the company that is currently outpacing everyone else on the track.

Motor racing insiders claim that he is a man of such high integrity that he "puts the interests of the sport before that of personal gain".

The authorities should surely, therefore, issue him with a halo. Instead, they slap a monumental financial fine on McLaren and strip the team of all points towards the constructors' title this year.

Presumably, the FIA publicity machine will come up with a suitable charitable cause through which to dispense of McLaren's money?

Meanwhile, the points penalty is rendered hollow by the announcement that Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are to carry on racing, with all their points won so far.

What nonsense is this? The man without the machine is redundant, and the driver who wins the title will likely be Lewis (McLaren) or Alonso (McLaren).

As to the manufacturers' championship, what does it matter outside the trade, the sponsors, the petrol heads or the bankers?

They will know which car carried which driver to the chequered flag and, in the business of motor racing, the big money always goes to the fastest and the most reliable.

By banning the name of the car, but keeping the exciting duel of the men who drive them, the business largely owned and ruled by Bernie Ecclestone, 'Mr Formula One', will not lose its selling point.

The fastest rookie ever seen, Hamilton, versus the brooding defending champion Alonso, is not about to be taken off the world screens just because the legal flak is flying between manufacturers.

The spin coming out of Paris, where motor racing is governed, is that the FIA granted the drivers immunity in return for providing evidence.

This reeks of plea bargaining American style and, increasingly, European style. It distorts justice in exchange for helping the cops or lawyers to gain a 'result' in court.

To me, the drivers and their cars are a unit. If man steers a discredited machine to the podium, how can he be honoured while his car is declared illegal?

There is rumour, particularly in England, that the FIA has a vendetta against McLaren.

Sir Jackie Stewart, the Scot who won three Formula One titles as a driver, claimed: "Even if McLaren were found guilty, it doesn't justify the penalty."

Dennis, his voice breaking with emotion, said: "We have the best drivers and the best car and we intend to win the world championship. The most important thing is that we will be going motor racing this weekend, the rest of the season and every season."

I disagree. The most important thing is the need for the global public, who ultimately pay the circus, to feel that motor racing is worth following.

F1 already suffers from the fact that the drivers' faces cannot be seen as they perform. The last thing it needs is faceless men making up the rules as they go along.