Mackereth took documents 'for personal use'

That claim emerged on Monday when the FIA published the full transcript of the recent World Motor Sport Council hearing into the Renault/McLaren spy hearing.

Mackereth was called as a witness during the hearing, and made it clear that he only took documents from McLaren when he left in 2006 for personal reasons.

In fact, it emerged during the hearing that drawings of McLaren's damper system had been left on his children's scrap paper pile for a period of time until he retrieved them and took them to Renault.

Cross-examined at the hearing about the reasons why he took the documents, Mackereth said: "When I collected the documents, there were several reasons. I wanted to pull together a record of my experience at McLaren.

"There was also some professional interest and insecurity. I had no intention of disclosing the documents to anybody or making something of them. It was a personal record for me."

Renault made it clear during the hearing that Mackereth deeply regretted what had happened.

The team's lawyer David Philips said: "When you see Mackereth, you will see a rabbit in headlights. He is a very unhappy, very guilty and very contrite man."

And Renault technical director Bob Bell emphasized that Mackereth was not a nefarious character - and his actions were little more than stupid and reckless.

"Mr Mackereth is a very genuine and straightforward individual," he said. "He is someone I would trust. He is someone with a high degree or respect within his peer groups. That is true within McLaren as it is in Renault.

"His actions in this situation were stupidity, naivete and a degree or recklessness - and little more than that. There is no malevolence; there is no intention to deliberately do wrong or to cheat. This is not in his make-up. He is very genuinely one of the most straightforward engineers operating in Formula One."

The hearing transcript also reveal that Renault were deeply unhappy about the incorrect press briefing that McLaren gave out about the case a few weeks before the hearing.

Also, FIA president Max Mosley is cited as explaining, in more detail, why he perceives the Renault and McLaren spy cases differently.