McLaren have accused the Renault formula one team of possessing critical McLaren information and have accused the Renault team of espionage much in the same way as Ferrari had accused them. The FIA statement read as follows :

‘Representatives of the Renault F1 Team have been requested to appear before a hearing of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Monaco on Thursday, December 6, 2007.

‘The team representatives have been called to answer a charge that between September 2006 and October 2007, in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, the Renault F1 Team had unauthorised possession of documents and confidential information belonging to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, including, but not limited to the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren F1 car, together with details of the McLaren fuelling system, gear assembly, oil cooling system, hydraulic control system and a novel suspension component used by the 2006 and 2007 McLaren F1 cars.’

If convicted Renault face a fine and race ban ! It has been alleged that a former McLaren employee brought the data to Renault in CDs and that a former Renault employee tipped off McLaren about the spying.