F1's governing body has apparently accepted McLaren's invitation to launch an investigation into the spy scandal saga involving Nigel Stepney and Mike Coughlan.

The FIA has issued the following statement today:

"With the full cooperation of both teams, the FIA has initiated an investigation into matters involving Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro and Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes.

The remit of this investigation will focus solely on the requirements of the International Sporting Code and the Formula One Regulations."

McLaren had earlier insisted that "no Ferrari intellectual property" had been used for the design of its current MP4-22 single seater, and "invited the FIA to conduct a full review of its cars" to verify this claim.



Ferrari expressed concern that is information seems to have passed illegally from the sacked Stepney to McLaren's now suspended chief designer Coughlan, saying in its own statement that it reserved the right "to consider all implications, be they criminal, civil or of any other nature."

Auto Motor und Sport, though, revealed that the issue is not about a few mere design blueprints transferred from Ferrari's sacked Nigel Stepney to Mike Coughlan, who has been suspended by McLaren.

In the 'package' sent to Coughlan in May also detailed internal structures, operating procedures, engineers, car setup data, race strategy secrets, future developments plans, as well as notes relating to quality control and tests.

Seems like F1's becomming a bit of a soap opera....
I think this could make shake the F1 community up quite a bit, well that's if it hasen't already done that!

What do u guys think??

Well, F1 has always been a bit of a soapy. Every season, without fail, there is always something dramatic that goes on for ages.

As for this issue, I don;t see it effecting F1 so much. I mean, it only involves two members, and doesn't involve the teams whatsoever, so I'm guessing this will breeze over by the end of the season.

In what could become one of the biggest scandals in recent times within Formula One, the Ferrari team revealed today that they received a tip off from someone outside of the sport regarding the alleged transfer of team information. The following is a press release from the Italian team.

'Ferrari wishes to clarify that the English police have so far not been involved in investigating the theft of technical information.'

'It was brought to Ferrari's attention by a third party outside Formula 1 racing within the last fortnight, that a senior member of the technical staff within the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team might be in possession of highly sensitive Ferrari information. ' 'Ferrari reviewed the evidence and consulted London lawyers towards the end of last week. '

'Ferrari then made an urgent application to the High Court in London on 2 July for the court's assistance.'

'As is usual with this kind of court order, Ferrari is currently prevented by the court from making any public statement about the information that it gained as a result of serving the court order.'

'At the same time, an investigation is being carried out into the same subject by the Modena Court, therefore no further comment will be forthcoming, in order to respect the legal process in both countries.'

Kinda interesting to see who took the documents and handed them over to McLaren.

But, as Timbit said, it will probably breeze over, but not for a long time, probably go on for a good few months thouhg. But, justice will be done.

If you are a young guy and go into training for any sales organization they will want you to sign an agreement that any contacts made while in their employment are their property. In their next breath they will suggest you contact family and friends. Go figure.

When it comes to intellectual property; you can contract someone for their smarts for X number of years. If you are unhappy with their performance; you can put them in the street. You can prohibit them from from working in competion with you for the remainder of X years; but you still have to pay them.

Mario Illien and Paul Morgan (Ilmor) didn't have to draw any welfare checks after they left Cosworth in the early '80's. They immediately built "Mercedes" engines for Penske Indy 500 cars. Later they built "Chevrolet" engines for Indy cars. To this day they build "Mercedes" engines for McLaren F1 cars.

If somebody from Ferrari transferred copies of actual engineering data to McLaren and it can be PROVED; there may be a case. Otherwise, Ferrari needs some swiss cheese to go with their Italian WHINE!

PS. The suspended Nascar crew chiefs can call anyone at any time from any spectator area at any race. Boohoo.