Leaked info to spell end of Renault in F1?

Third team implicated in F1's 2007 spy row saga rocked by latest revelations ahead of FIA hearing.

Renault's Formula 1 team has been dealt a hammer blow in the latest revelation in the sport's ongoing spy row, with leaked legal documents painting a bleak picture for the French squad ahead of its pivotal World Motor Sport Council hearing early next month - the outcome of which is likely to determine its future in the top flight.

Renault was first named as being implicated in the espionage saga a fortnight ago. It will consequently appear before the FIA in Monaco on 6 December to answer a charge of being in unauthorised possession of documents and confidential information belonging to McLaren. It is a similar offence to that of which McLaren was found guilty during the summer, when the Woking concern was proved to have illegally received 780 pages of secret Ferrari data – and for which the team received a $100 million fine, disqualification from the 2007 constructors' world championship and a high degree of scrutiny over its 2008 model.

According to British daily newspaper The Times, the latest assertions – allegedly leaked to PA Sport from McLaren's submission to the world council in a bid to ramp up the pressure on Renault – imply the Enstone-based outfit benefited significantly from the aforementioned data, which includes, the FIA has confirmed, the layout and critical dimensions of McLaren's F1 car, fuelling system, gear assembly, oil cooling system, hydraulic control system and a novel suspension component used by the 2006 and 2007 machines.

“It is clear that McLaren's confidential design information was knowingly, deliberately and widely disseminated and discussed within the Renault F1 design and engineering team,” read a statement from McLaren's solicitors, Baker McKenzie, “thereby providing them with a clear benefit and unfair