> Renault found guilty but escape punishment

The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council has imposed no penalty on Renault after finding the team in breach of the International Sporting Code for possessing confidential technical information belonging to McLaren.

Prior to Thursday’s hearing in Monaco, Renault had already admitted that data had entered their factory via a former McLaren engineer, who joined the team in September 2006. Renault insisted, however, that no use had been made of the information.

Welcoming the news, Renault team principal Flavio Briatore commented: "I would like to thank Renault, our title sponsor ING and all our partners for their wholehearted support during this sensitive period. I also wish to pay tribute to the team, which has handled the matter with integrity and dignity. We are pleased that we can now focus fully on our preparations for the 2008 championship."

Detailed reasons for the decision will be issued by the FIA on Friday and a transcript of Thursday’s proceedings will be published as soon as possible thereafter.

Source: f1.com

Renault escapes penalty in WSMC hearing

Renault has escaped without penalty at Thursday’s FIA World Motor Sport Council hearing in Monaco – despite being found guilty of possessing technical secrets leaked from rival McLaren.

In a ruling that mirrored its initial verdict on the McLaren/Ferrari spy case, the WMSC deemed that Renault had breached Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, but saw fit not to impose any sanctions.

No explanation was given for the decision, but the FIA said it would publish the reasoning behind the verdict tomorrow (Friday).

“An extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council was held in Monaco on December 6, 2007,” the governing body said in a statement.

“The World Council found Renault F1 to be in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code but imposed no penalty.

“Detailed reasons for this decision will be issued on December 7, 2007, and a transcript of the proceedings will be published as soon as possible thereafter.”

When it spared McLaren from a penalty in July, the WMSC cited “insufficient evidence” that the team had used or benefited from confidential technical information belonging to Ferrari.

But after new evidence came to light it dramatically overturned that decision, excluding McLaren from the 2007 constructors’ world championship and fining the team $100 million.

It explained the volte face by saying the new evidence showed that McLaren had committed a more serious breach than was originally appreciated, and that a number of its staff had demonstrated an intention to use the information to its advantage even if it could not prove that they had actually done so.

Source: itv-f1

Renault admit possession, deny use of McLaren data

Following news that they are to appear before the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council to answer charges of unauthorised possession of confidential McLaren data, Renault have released a statement to clarify their position.

In it, the French team admit that an engineer, who joined from McLaren in September 2006, brought with him several computer discs containing technical spreadsheets and engineering drawing from his previous employers. This information was loaded onto the engineer’s computer and some of the material was shown to other members of Renault’s staff.

However, Renault claim that as soon as the team’s technical management found out about the confidential data, the FIA and McLaren were immediately informed and the engineer in question was suspended. An internal investigation was also carried out, the findings of which Renault believe prove that the information was not used to influence the design of their car.

The Renault press release in full:

Statement concerning the allegation against the ING Renault F1 Team regarding McLaren proprietary information

Following the notification of the FIA for the ING Renault F1 Team representatives to appear in front of the World Council, the team wishes to clarify the situation.

On the 6th September 2007 it came to our attention that an engineer (Mr Phil Mackereth) who joined the team from McLaren in Sept 2006 had brought with him some information that was considered to be proprietary to McLaren. This information was contained on old style floppy discs and included copies of some McLaren engineering drawings and some technical spreadsheets. This information was loaded at the request of Mr Mackereth onto his personal directory on the Renault F1 Team file system. This was done without the knowledge of anyone in authority in the team. As soon as the situation was brought to the attention of the team's technical management, the following actions were taken:

The information was completely cleansed from the team's computer systems and a formal investigation was started. We promptly informed McLaren of the situation and immediately after the FIA. Since then we have constantly and regularly kept McLaren and the FIA informed on all relevant findings. Mr Mackereth was immediately suspended from his position. The original floppy discs were impounded and sent to our solicitors for return to McLaren.

Our formal investigation showed that early in his employment with Renault Mr Mackereth made some of our engineers aware of parts of this information in the form of a few reduced scale engineering drawings. These drawings covered four basic systems as used by McLaren and were: the internal layout of the fuel tank, the basic layout of the gear clusters, a tuned mass damper and a suspension damper. Subsequent witness statements from the engineers involved have categorically stated that having been briefly shown these drawings, none of this information was used to influence design decisions relating to the Renault car. In the particular case of the tuned mass damper, these had already been deemed illegal by the FIA and therefore the drawing was of no value. The suspension damper drawing hinted that the McLaren design might be similarly considered illegal and a subsequent clarification from the FIA confirmed this based upon our crude interpretation of the concept.

ING Renault F1 Team have co-operated fully with McLaren and the FIA in this matter to the extent that the team has invited McLaren's independent experts to come and assess the team's computer systems and inspect the cars and the design records, to demonstrate that this unfortunate incident has not in anyway influenced the design of the cars.

ING Renault F1 Team have acted with complete transparency towards McLaren and the FIA, being proactive in solving this matter and we are fully confident in the judgment of the World Council.

Source: f1.com

McLaren document claims Renault did gain an advantage

News agency Reuters reported that they have seen a legal document outlining the evidence McLaren have submitted to the FIA, relating to the latest Renault spying controversy.

In December Renault will appear before the World Motor Sport Council to answer charges that the team had unauthorised possession of confidential data belonging to their British rivals.

In the leaked document, McLaren’s solicitors suggest that the information taken from the squad was “knowingly, deliberately and widely disseminated and discussed within the Renault F1 design and engineering team”. It also alleges that over 30 files of data were loaded onto Renault’s computer system and that those files contained more than 780 technical drawings of the 2006 and 2007 McLaren cars.

Earlier this month, Renault admitted that an engineer had brought with him several computer discs containing technical spreadsheets and engineering drawing from his previous employer McLaren. The French squad also acknowledged that this information was then loaded onto the engineer’s computer and some of it was shown to other members of staff.

Renault, however, insist that the data was not used to influence the design of their car. The hearing will take place on December 6, 2007.

Source: f1.com

Briatore: Renault may sue McLaren

Renault boss Flavio Briatore has warned that his team may sue rival McLaren for defamation over the ‘Spygate II’ affair if it is cleared by the FIA.

Representatives from both teams are in Monaco today for a hearing of the World Motor Sport Council, where Renault faces charges of possessing secret McLaren technical data.

McLaren raised the stakes last month when it authorised a press briefing containing a number of allegations about how far its intellectual property had seeped into the Renault organisation – some of which it admitted yesterday were inaccurate.

Briatore is confident Renault will be acquitted and says the team will not necessarily let the matter rest there.

“A lot of very bad things have been said about us by McLaren in the last few weeks, very damaging,” he told the Daily Express.

“We will be cleared and once the verdict is announced we will consider legal action.

“Our reputation has been defamed.”

Renault has admitted that former McLaren engineer Phil Mackereth brought McLaren data with him when he joined the Enstone team and showed scale drawings to some colleagues, but claims that this was done without the knowledge of anyone in authority.

The team is adamant that none of this information was used to influence its car design and says this is confirmed by witness statements from the engineers involved.

McLaren is expected to dispute this and argue that Renault gained an unfair advantage from the possession and dissemination of the leaked data.

Souirce: itv-f1

McLaren corrects case against Renault

December 5th:

McLaren, on the request of the FIA, has released a statement correcting certain 'factual errors' in a leaked briefing document that claimed Renault had gained a “clear benefit and unfair advantage” in F1's latest spying scandal.

On the eve of the World Motor Sport Council Hearing in Paris, which will convene for Renault to answer charges of possessing intellectual property belonging to McLaren - in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting code - the team has moved to redefine certain elements of the briefing, leaked to the press in late November.

The briefing asserted damning evidence that suggested Renault's part in the scandal could be even larger than that of McLaren's in the Ferrari "Spygate" affair, which cost the Woking team up to $US100m in fines and all of its constructors' points.

But McLaren now claims only nine Renault employees, rather than the stated 18, admitted to seeing the confidential McLaren data brought to the team by engineer Phil Mackereth in September 2006.

In addition only 13 engineers in all made a total of 18 statements over the affair.

McLaren's release on Wednesday also added that a back-up copy of the information was made to an 'unknown' number of Renault servers and tapes after it was loaded onto Renault's T: server, rather than a total of 11 computers as stated in the brief.

Furthermore McLaren pointed out that when printed, the documentation came to a total of 762 pages rather than the claimed 780, and moved to clarify the breifing statement that the data in question amounted to the "entire technical blueprint of the 2006 and 2007 McLaren car".

The correction read: "The position is that, the McLaren drawings plus the information in a confidential MP4 - 22A Specification document taken by Mr Mackereth constitute a technical definition of the fundamental layout of the 2007 McLaren car and the technical details of its innovative and performance enhancing systems."

Source: itv-f1

Click here to read the statement in full.

F1 | Formula 1 - Full McLaren correction - ITV Sport