A sensational story blew straight into the newspaper headlines around the world over the weekend as Ferrari accused its employee Nigel Stepney of 'sabotaging' the team's F1 cars. A criminal investigation by the Modena prosecutor's office is underway after the Ferrari team lodged an official complaint.

At the same time the F1 team is undertaking internal disciplinary procedures against 47-year-old Stepney, who is the performance director and reportedly earns £750,000 per year for the factory-based job. "Ferrari have taken action against Nigel Stepney, and there is now an investigation," a team spokesman told Autosport magazine, adding that Stepney would remain an employee and that no further comment would be forthcoming until the investigation was completed. Reuters meanwhile reported a Ferrari spokesman as saying: “Nigel Stepney is still an employee but we have brought an action against him. It is not related to any event, it is related to his behaviour.”

The news sent shockwaves through the media and led to much frenzied speculation. The Italian media went into overdrive and leading sports daily newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport claimed that he was at the centre of a dramatic sabotage investigation. Claiming a leak from the now on-going investigation, the newspaper said that Ferrari has handed the prosecutor, Giuseppe Tibis, evidence that its cars were tampered with just days before they left for Monte Carlo. Reportedly, Ferrari engineers found traces of an unusual white powder around the fuel filler pipe. However the performance of the F1 cars was unaffected in Monte Carlo as the parts involved were swiftly replaced.

Dismissing speculation that this was a sign of internal dissent growing in the team following the departure at the end of last year of Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn, team spokesman Luca Colajanni told The Times: "This is a sign, if the investigation is confirmed, that someone has lost his team spirit because he is not happy with the choices made by the team management. It is not correct to say the team is falling apart."
 

The plot thickened as the Maranello police then raided Stepney's house on Friday evening, leaving with a small container. Yesterday though Stepney, who is currently on holiday in Asia, hit back at the unfolding drama, claiming that he is the victim of a "dirty tricks campaign". He told The Sunday Times: I have confidence I’ll be cleared by the legal process that is now taking place. It is just part of a dirty tricks campaign and everything is in the hands of my lawyer, so we’ll wait and see what happens." Dismissing reports that he had 'fled' to Asia he added: I’m on a planned holiday with Ash [his fiancée] and our baby. Why would anyone say I am not contactable? I booked the flights through the Ferrari travel office. They know where I am."

Stepney joined Ferrari in 1992 from the Benetton team, taking the role of Chief Mechanic. Previously he had also worked for the Shadow and Lotus F1 outfits. He quickly rose through the ranks at Maranello but stepped back to take on a factory-based role for this year, the last of his current contract, after expressing dissatisfaction with the direction the team was now taking.

It is reported that he was unhappy with being passed over for Ross Brawn's job as Technical Director which became vacant when his fellow Englishman took a sabbatical this year. “I’m not currently happy with the situation within the team," he told Autosport earlier this year. "I really want to move forward with my career and that's something that’s not happening right now. Ideally I’d like to move into a new environment here at Ferrari, but if an opportunity arose with another team, I would definitely consider it." Paddock talk suggests he tried to join the Honda team last month.