Theory: it was not a real diamond
Sidhu completely denies the rumours of a fake diamond.
“I’ve learned that any diamond company is not going to go out there, particularly in the public domain, and use fake diamonds because clearly there’s a high risk of being caught,” he says.
“Had we used a fake diamond in that car and what took place took place, then clearly the embarrassment and the disrepute it would bring Jaguar, and Formula 1 for that matter, was too high risk.
“There’s been loads of conspiracy theories about was it a real diamond or was Christian told to crash his car and I think that’s what’s given the story its life – there’s a mystery to this story and that mystery will always breed different theories.”
Purnell backs up the legitimacy of the diamond, recalling a conversation he had with the managing director of the team, David Pitchforth.
“David said, ‘Tony, it was definitely real because when they came to the office with it, I picked the diamond up, went to the window and scratched the window’ because that’s how to tell.
“Hearing that from Dave, I’m in no doubt it was the real thing that was put on the car.
“I don’t know if one of our mechanics was switched on enough to make a fake, but I don’t think so.”
Theory: someone pocketed it
“I think somebody probably just picked it up, put it in their pocket and… they’re probably smiling and thinking, ‘it’s in my drawer’,” says Purnell.
“I do think also that a fairly large diamond zooming through at 100 miles an hour probably shattered. Somebody’s got a little bit, somebody else has got another [little bit].
“Maybe, sadly, just some guy was sweeping up the road or one of those trucks with the brushes and it all went down the sewer.
“It did occur to me that the ultimate thing would be if Clooney, Pitt and Damon had contrived to steal it because it was so in line with Ocean’s Eleven. But that was a fantasy too far.”
There would have been hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the area because within an hour or so of the end of the race the circuit would have been returned to public roads.
Sidhu is pretty certain about what happened to the diamond: “Someone’s picked it up.
“What people tend to do is, believe it or not, pick up bits of tyre rubber, you know, claim that as Michael Schumacher’s front tyre rubber or whatever they can find.
“Somebody may have picked it up not having any idea it came off a car.
“There’s a lot of diamonds in Monte Carlo. There’s a lot of people walking around Monte Carlo with a lot of jewellery and a lot of stones.
“Somebody dropped a diamond in Monte Carlo. Well, they’re not going to miss that, are they? Probably not.”
Theory: Klien crashed on purpose
Sidhu says the cost of the damage to the car was more than the cost of the diamond, which reports at the time said was uninsured.
And points and a good result in the race were more valuable to the team and individuals than a diamond or the publicity a crash would bring. It was simply not worth crashing on purpose.
“For us, bringing two cars home, ideally in the points, had far bigger commercial benefits to us in terms of constructors’ points, broadcast money, and more importantly, trying to retain our sponsors and trying to protect the integrity of the team,” Sidhu explains.
Klien drove straight into the barriers right in front of the marshals so would not have had the chance to start looking for a diamond or picking it up even if he had wanted to.
“Christian didn’t try and say all the brakes failed or anything like that, he’s just said ‘I made a rookie mistake’,” says Purnell.
“He was a young guy, first time, made a mistake, it happens. Doesn’t usually happen with a $300,000 diamond flying into the crowd or wherever it went, but I’m sure Christian wasn’t really aware of the diamond.
“No amount of money would have got Christian to do that [crash on purpose]. He wanted to make a success of what he was doing.”