NASCAR team Michael Waltrip Racing sues Mike Coughlan and Williams team – Formula 1 news
Formula 1 team Williams and their newly hired chief engineer Mike Coughlan have been sued by NASCAR team Michael Waltrip Racing.
Coughlan, also known as the man behind the spygate scandal, was reported to join the Williams team during the course of the 2011 Formula 1 season. Coughlan completed his three-year suspension in 2011 after he was found guilty of the 2007 spygate saga between
McLaren and Ferrari.
Although it was never known that Coughlan was working for any motorsports company during his suspension, recently a leading NASCAR team has filed an official lawsuit against him of breaching the contract.
According to MWR, Coughlan had a contract with them from October 2010 until November 2012 but Mike resigned in April 2011 to join the Williams team.
MWR have filed an official lawsuit in a District court in North Carolina against Coughlan and the Williams’ team as well.
In the report, MWR claim, “As a result of Coughlan's premature departure, MWR will face and incur many certain and substantial damages, including the costs of searching for, recruiting, negotiating with, hiring and training a replacement for Coughlan, not
to mention the expenses MWR devoted to Coughlan's employment, the benefits of which will go unrealised.”
Williams team did some restructuring in their technical staff which saw their technical director Sam Michael resigning from the team and Coughlan been taken on board to help the struggling team in the 2011 Formula 1 season.
However, as the leading NASCAR team claims that along with Coughlan, Williams team was also aware of the contract and deliberately hired Coughlan.
MWR also claim that their team is performing below par in the Sprint Cup series due to Coughlan who was responsible for design, quality assurance and production of their car.
Williams hiring Coughlan was seen controversial in the first place as he was involved in the spygate but recent claims from Michael Waltrip Racing will hurt the image of Coughlan even more and might force Williams to reconsider their decision.
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