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Hill: latest spy saga could damage F1

Former world champion Damon Hill fears that the latest development in Formula One's spy saga, with Renault being summoned to appear before an FIA hearing, could damage the sport

Renault will have to attend a hearing of the World Motor Sport Council next month to answer charges that they had in their possession intellectual property belonging to McLaren.

On the back of the controversy surrounding McLaren's own spy trial, which ended in them being handed a $100 million (USD) fine and exclusion from the constructors' championship, Hill feels the latest matter could be negative if people feel that justice is not being handed out evenly.

"Why were Ferrari just given a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again after winning the first race with a device [a flexible floor] that was illegal?" Hill told The Daily Telegraph on Friday. "This brings about a lot of the problems relating to justice and consistency.

"In this country we are quite sophisticated sport and political spectators. If things don't stack up, and continue to fly in the face of what we regard as being just and fair, then the danger is people will just walk away. It's a problem that has existed for a long time in this sport, not knowing whether to believe things or not.

"I'm not a lone voice here. There are a lot of people who love this sport and have got a lot out of it, who want it to be a healthy sport and to attract people to it. When there are episodes like we had in the last season our hearts sink because we think that they're not doing it any good.

"Last season was the best in F1 for a long time, most notably because there were four drivers who could have been world champion. That brought about a massive amount of interest in the sport for the right reasons. It did not need any more controversy or sideshows."

Hill says he still does not understand certain aspects of why McLaren were treated so harshly.

"I would like to understand how the Ferrari-Toyota case [former Ferrari engineers in the employ of Toyota guilty of industrial espionage], which ended in court, did not lead to the same outcome as the Ferrari-McLaren case? Why was there no punishment of the team [Toyota]?" Hill explained.

"There was an uncomfortable feeling that there was something more to the McLaren outcome than the issue being investigated. The way that justice was meted out raised some questions about the way the FIA handle these breaches.

"If breaches occur then those things should be investigated and dealt with sensibly and appropriately. But in that case there were lots of questions about what really happened that went unanswered."

The FIA did not act on the Toyota spy saga because there was no complaint from a rival team. Ferrari informed the FIA about McLaren's possession of their documents earlier this year, while McLaren notified the FIA about Renault having their own information.

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