Renault Faces Hearing on Spy Case

Topics:  Renault, Formula 1, FIA

VOA Sports
December 5, 2007

The Renault Formula One team faces a hearing Thursday in Monaco to answer questions about secret documents from rival McLaren, the second big spy case involving Formula One this year.

The French team is accused of possessing confidential McLaren technical information, including details of the British-based team's fuel system, suspension, oil cooling system and hydraulics.

McLaren alleges that engineer Phil Mackereth took several CDs worth of technical information with him when he left the British team for Renault in 2006. McLaren says the information was loaded onto several Renault computers and discussed by the French team's engineers.

If found guilty, the French team could face a penalty similar to the one McLaren received for spying on the Italian team Ferrari. McLaren was penalized all its constructors' standings points and fined $100 million for using confidential data from Ferrari.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters.