Ferrari hit back at McLaren

It had been alleged that former McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan received classified material from former Ferrari head of performance Nigel Stepney. McLaren insisted that the material was not known to other team officials and not used to alter the car.

 McLaren were found guilty of possessing the material, but were not penalized. The case has since been referred back to the Appeal Court of the sport's governing body FIA.

 McLaren had countered this earlier in the week in a letter to the president of the Italian Automobile club that Ferrari used an illegal floor attachment mechanism during the Australian Grand Prix, which was later banned.

 Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari won the race.

 But Ferrari have now hit back and issued a statement in which they said that they wish to state very strongly that the accusations in the letter from McLaren were wrong.

 "Contrary to the statement put forward by McLaren Ferrari never illegally gained any advantage. The two cars used in the Australian Grand Prix were deemed by the stewards to be in conformity with the technical regulations before, during and at the end of the event. If there had been any illegalities, they would have been disqualified.

 "In fact, what the FIA did next is commonplace. The FIA took the opportunity to issue a clarification on the interpretation of the regulation and then asked the teams concerned to make the necessary modifications. There are actually numerous examples of this in both the recent and distant past which have also involved other teams."

   "At the next sitting of the FIA International Court of Appeal, Ferrari will fully explain its position on the entire matter," the statement said.

 McLaren have a 138-111 lead over Ferrari in the constructors' standings. In the drivers list, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton leads with 70 points from team-mate Fernando Alonso (68) and the Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa (59) and Kimi Raikkonen (52).