By IANS
Madrid : World champion Fernando Alonso would be free to leave McLaren should the team be found guilty in the espionage scandal currently engulfing Formula One.
Although opinion is split regarding the outcome of Thursday's FIA hearing into the matter, Spanish sports news website as.com has claimed there could be yet another "penalty" for Ron Dennis's outfit should any blame be laid at its door.
Should the team be found culpable of benefiting from Mike Coughlan's decision to accept a 700-page dossier of information from a Ferrari insider, sanctions could range from a heavy fine, via the loss of all constructors' championship points, to the stripping of all points in both the teams' and drivers' championships.
Such an outcome would leave Alonso and current championship leader Lewis Hamilton with nothing to show for their five wins and consistent podium appearances this season.
The two-time world champion would be free to leave McLaren should his image be damaged by the team's involvement in the scandal.
Dennis has repeatedly claimed that nothing contained in the Ferrari technical package has appeared on McLaren's MP4-22 – which returned to winning ways with Alonso at the Nurburgring Sunday – but paddock rumour claims that the FIA has enough proof that the information has been used to throw the book at McLaren.
Despite Dennis's denials regarding the use of Ferrari intellectual property on McLaren's car, the information could nevertheless have potentially been used to gain a competitive advantage.
McLaren also launched a successful protest against the "flexible floor" introduced by Ferrari at the start of the season – something cynics say would not have been possible without back-up information detailing the part – based on email exchange between Coughlan and Ferrari's Nigel Stepney.