The FIA has summoned representatives of the Renault F1 team to
answer charges of possessing confidential McLaren information, as a
new spying scandal threatened to engulf the sport on
Thursday.
Two months after McLaren was disqualified from the 2007
constructors' championship and fined up to $US100m when its staff
were found of having secret Ferrari technical documents, the
governing body has turned its attention to the team which won both
titles in 2005 and 2006 with Fernando Alonso and leads the chase to
re-sign the uncontracted Spaniard.
"Representatives of the Renault F1 Team
have been requested to appear before a hearing of the FIA World
Motor Sport Council in Monaco on Thursday, December 6, 2007," read
an FIA statement.
"The team representatives have been called to answer a charge that
between September 2006 and October 2007, in breach of Article 151c
of the International Sporting Code, the Renault F1 Team had
unauthorised possession of documents and confidential information
belonging to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes," the statement
continued.
"Including, but not limited to the layout and critical dimensions
of the McLaren F1 car, together with details of the McLaren
fuelling system, gear assembly, oil cooling system, hydraulic
control system and a novel suspension component used by the 2006
and 2007 McLaren F1 cars."
McLaren lawyers informed the FIA that Renault had the information
during the September 'Spygate' hearings, but Flavio Briatore
publicly denied his team had done anything wrong.
First, if somebody tells me its the same [as McLaren's
situation], I sue somebody, quickly, he said in the FIA press
conference during the Belgian Grand Prix.
Second, its not an investigation regarding myself and the
team.
Third, we give all the information to the Federation, at least
when we found out something, and this is it.
And I give the evidence as well to McLaren.
