Ferrari board presses on with legal action

The board met at Maranello on Tuesday to analyse the latest the legal actions taken against their former engineer Nigel Stepney and McLaren's suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan.

The Italian squad insisted they will press on with their current legal action and initiate additional if necessary.

"The Board has ratified what happened until now, which is the action taken against Nigel Stepney over the fact of the powder found around the refuelling aperture on the F1 cars during the Monaco Grand Prix tests," said Ferrari in a statement.

"The submission of another legal action against Stepney concerning the theft of technical information, the civil action presented to The High Court of London against Mike Coughlan, chief designer of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, and his wife, concerning the theft of the aforementioned documents.

"The Board took note of the FIA World Council's decision of 26th of July and of today's decision from the FIA President, Max Mosley, to refer this matter to a hearing of the FIA Court of Appeal, where Ferrari, as the injured party of the incident, 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 Board gives its full authority to the Board of Directors' President, to the CEO, and to the Managing Director to initiate and continue any necessary legal action, in the name of the Company, in addiction to those legal actions already underway in every legal, civil, criminal, administrative, sporting jurisdiction be it, in Italy or abroad."

On Tuesday, the sport's governing body, the FIA, announced the spy saga will be submitted to the Court of Appeal, where Ferrari will be able to give their version of the scandal.