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Ferrari confirm action against McLaren man
By Jonathan Noble and Biranit Goren Tuesday, July 3rd 2007, 18:16 GMT
Ferrari have confirmed they instigated legal action against a senior McLaren engineer in both Italy and England, saying this concerns "the theft of technical information."
The Maranello-based outfit dismissed Nigel Stepney after initiating legal actions against him, claiming he was involved in sabotage and espionage against Ferrari.
And today McLaren revealed they have suspended a senior member of their staff after discovering he unlawfully obtained technical material belonging to Ferrari.
In a statement issued this evening, the Italian team said: "Ferrari announces it has recently presented a case against Nigel Stepney and an engineer from the Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes team with the Modena Tribunal, concerning the theft of technical information.
"Furthermore, legal action has been instigated in England and a search warrant has been issued concerning the engineer. This produced a positive outcome.
"Ferrari reserves the right to consider all implications, be they criminal, civil or of any other nature, according to the applicable laws."
Autosport.com understands the search already took place today in the McLaren engineer's house, with police finding the incriminating material, which then led McLaren to suspend him.
As the affair looks set to dominate paddock talk in the forthcoming race, an FIA spokesman said they are monitoring the situation.
"We have received information on this matter which we are examining at the moment," he said today.
On täysin kestämätön väite, että talli ei olisi tiennyt pääsuunnittelijansa toimista. Varsin kiinnostavaa nähdä, että mikä on FIA:n reaktio ja miten tilanne tulee kehittymään lähipäivien aikana. Stepneylla ja Coughlanilla on yhteinen historia.McLaren suspect is Mike Coughlan
By Jonathan Noble and Biranit Goren Tuesday, July 3rd 2007, 18:44 GMT
Mike Coughlan, McLaren's chief designer, is the senior engineer suspected of espionage against Ferrari, autosport.com has learned.
The 48-year-old Briton is suspected of unlawfully obtaining technical material belonging to Ferrari in collaboration with Ferrari's Nigel Stepney.
In a search conducted by the police at Coughlan's house today, documents allegedly belonging to Ferrari were found, leading McLaren to suspend him while Ferrari said they reserve the right to pursue further legal action.
Coughlan joined McLaren as chief designer in August 2002 after four years with the Arrows F1 team. His initial role there was chief designer, and in the last couple of years he was promoted to technical director.
Coughlan was also head of the design office at Benetton in 1991, and later in his career worked for the Ferrari Design and Development office in England. He also worked as race engineer at Tyrrell in the mid-1990s.
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