FIA Delays Action in McLaren Spy Case

Topics:  FIA, McLaren

VOA Sports
December 7, 2007

The International Automobile Federation - Formula One's governing body - has deferred a decision on whether McLaren's Formula One team illegally used confidential data from Ferrari in its 2008 cars.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council, meeting in Monaco, called for an extraordinary council meeting February 14th in Paris. The Formula One teams will be given the chance to respond to a FIA technical report on the 2008 McLaren race car.

The British-based team was fined $100 million in September and stripped of all its points in the constructors' standings after secret Ferrari documents were found at the home of McLaren's chief designer.

McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton of Britain and Fernando Alonso of Spain also escaped any punishment in the spy case. Hamilton finished second in the 2007 drivers' standings behind Kimi Raikkonen of Finland. Alonso finished third and has since quit the McLaren team. The 2008 season starts March 16th in Australia.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.