Nobody at McLaren knew before July 3rd that one of the team's employees had confidential Ferrari information in his possession, the Formula One championship leaders insisted today.
McLaren were responding in a statement to media speculation after a High Court hearing last week led to their suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan providing Ferrari with an affidavit.
The spy saga threatens to wreck the title hopes of British rookie Lewis Hamilton and Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso, with their Mercedes-powered team summoned by the governing FIA to a hearing in Paris on July 26th.
"McLaren is concerned that erroneous speculation has arisen from inaccurate and misleading reference to the contents of confidential legal papers filed at court in response to Ferrari's UK action to recover its intellectual property," the British-based team said.
"This is unfortunate and is prejudicial to a fair interpretation of these matters.
"McLaren can confirm from its own investigation that no Ferrari materials or data are or have ever been in the possession of any McLaren employee other than the individual sued by Ferrari," McLaren added.
McLaren have yet to name Coughlan in any of the statements since their announcement on July 3rd that a senior technical employee had been suspended.