War of words between Ferrari and McLaren ahead of Hungary GP

Budapest, Aug 2 (DPA) Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes resume their Formula One title battle at the Hungarian Grand Prix on the weekend amid a growing war of words between the two sides around a sabotage affair.

On Tuesday, the Ferrari board gave its nod to a wide range of further action in the affair in which former Ferrari head of performance Nigel Stepney gave classified team material to ex-McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan.


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Ferrari said in a statement its leaders have “the full authority… to initiate and continue any necessary legal action, in the name of the company, in addition to those legal actions already underway in every legal, civil, criminal, administrative, sporting jurisdiction be it, in Italy or abroad.”

Ferrari are reportedly preparing a suit against McLaren before an Italian court.

Lawsuits against Stepney and Coughlin are taking place in Italy and Britain. Stepney protested his innocence again this week in an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica daily.

Ferrari were furious that McLaren were not sanctioned by the World Motor Sport Council of the ruling body FIA last week.

At the same time, the Italians set their hopes in the FIA Appeal Court, which on Tuesday was ordered by FIA boss Max Mosley to examine the affair.

Ferrari expressed their hope that before the Appeal Court, “as the injured party of the incident, (they) will be accorded all the rights to which they are entitled in a trial, which was not the case at the World Council meeting”.

The World Motor Sports Council (WMSC) ruled that McLaren was in possession of the confidential material, but the Anglo-German team escaped sanction because there “is insufficient evidence that this information was used in such a way as to interfere improperly with the FIA Formula One World Championship”.

The WMSC said it will re-open the case and could sanction McLaren with disqualification from the 2007 and 2008 season in the case of new evidence.

Ferrari named the ruling “incomprehensible”.

McLaren insisted that the material was not known to other team officials and not used to alter the car, and lashed out at Ferrari and the FIA in a statement.

McLaren said FIA bowed to “a thoroughly misleading press campaign by Ferrari and pressure from the Automobile Club D’ Italia” when it referred the case to the appeal body.

“McLaren is not aware of any new information or arguments that have arisen since the meeting of the World Motor Sport Council.”

“Whilst this is both disappointing and time-consuming, McLaren is confident that the FIA International Court of Appeal will also exonerate McLaren and we will in the meanwhile continue to focus on our current World Championship programme,” the team said.

But first comes the Hungarian GP, into which McLaren take a 138-111 lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ standings.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton leads in the drivers’ standings with 70 points, two clear of his teammate Fernando Alonso. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and teammate Kimi Raikkonen are third and fourth with 59 and 52 points respectively.

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