McLaren correct spy briefing errors

Ahead of tomorrow's World Motor Sport Council hearing into Renault's possession of McLaren information, which had been brought to them by engineer Phil Mackereth, McLaren have corrected errors in a recent press briefing that was issued on behalf of the team.

The briefing, which was widely reported in the international media, revolved around the extent to which the McLaren information at the centre of the case had permeated inside the Renault team.

McLaren state that the FIA has requested them to correct wrong information given in the briefing.

The full statement says:

"The FIA has asked us to correct certain factual errors contained in a press briefing given on our behalf by one journalist concerning Renault F1 and we are pleased to do so. The corrections are as follows.

"In our briefing, we stated that there were 18 witness statements from Renault employees admitting that they had viewed McLaren confidential information.

"To the extent that this implied that 18 different Renault employees admitted viewing McLaren confidential information it was inaccurate. 13 Renault F1 employees provided 18 witness statements and 9 of them have so far admitted they viewed and discussed the confidential technical information belonging to McLaren.

"We stated that the confidential information on computer disks was uploaded onto 11 Renault computers.

"This is not accurate. Mr Mackereth copied information onto 11 computer disks. The information on these 11 computer disks was uploaded by Renault IT staff in September 2006 onto Renault's T: drive and then transferred by Mr Mackereth to his personal home directory stored on Renault's network server. A back up copy of the material on Mr Mackereth's personal directory was made onto an unknown number of Renault's back up servers/tapes.

"Our briefing could have been interpreted as suggesting that the Renault employees who admitted sight of McLaren Confidential Information all viewed it on computer screens.

"Only Mr Mackereth and Mr Hardie admit viewing McLaren Confidential Information on Mr Mackereth's computer. The other seven employees who have admitted seeing McLaren Confidential Information admit seeing it in the form of computer print outs or hard copy documents.

"We said that the information on the 11 computer disks taken by Mr Mackereth included 780 individual drawings.

"This was an error. The information taken by Mr Mackereth on floppy disks, in hard copy form and by email amounts to 762 pages when printed out. The 11 computer disks included 18 individual technical drawings. Mr Mackereth also admits that he took hard copy drawings of McLaren's dampers.

"We said that the McLaren information amounted to the "entire technical blueprint of the 2006 and 2007 McLaren car".

"This requires clarification. The position is that, the McLaren drawings plus the information in a confidential MP4 - 22A Specification document taken by Mr Mackereth constitute a technical definition of the fundamental layout of the 2007 McLaren car and the technical details of its innovative and performance enhancing systems.

"We are pleased to assist the FIA in making the above clear in advance of tomorrow's hearing."

While Renault's hearing takes place in Monaco tomorrow, the FIA is also due to rule on the legality of McLaren's 2008 challenger on Friday following investigations into whether any Ferrari information has been used in its design.