The sabotage controversy simmering around Ferrari employee Nigel Stepney exploded yesterday after the Scuderia announced that rival F1 team McLaren could have been the beneficiary of stolen information and property. Clearly naming the 'Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes' team in a statement which centred around an unnamed engineer, Ferrari stated that an executed search warrant had provided a 'positive' result.

"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," read the statement issued by Ferrari in Maranello. "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," concluded the statement.

The whole controversy got underway less than a fortnight ago with Ferrari revealing that the Modena prosecutor's office had begun an investigation, accusing the 47-year-old Nigel Stepney of improper behaviour. "Ferrari have taken action against Nigel Stepney, and there is now an investigation," a team spokesman told Autosport magazine at the time. With talk of a 'white powder' being found around the petrol tanks of the Ferrari F1 cars just days prior to the Monaco Grand Prix, all the talk in the media was about possible sabotage.

However on Tuesday it has emerged that the holidaying Stepney, who has vehemently denied the accusations, has been accused of stealing parts and information and selling then to at least one rival team, with Ferrari's competitors for the 2007 F1 World Championship title, McLaren, being named in a statement.
 

Inside word suggests that Stepney could have been selling classified information on to more than one team, and recently he was reported to be trying to join the struggling Honda outfit. Stepney, who joined Ferrari from the Benetton team in 1992, took up a factory based role this year, reportedly disillusioned after being passed over for the job of Technical Director when Ross Brawn took a sabbatical. Yesterday, after an internal disciplinary procedure, Ferrari sacked Stepney. “All I can say is that Nigel Stepney is no longer our employee,” Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni.

The McLaren team responded swiftly to the Ferrari statement, on Tuesday afternoon suspending a 'senior member of the technical organisation'. McLaren then issued a statement in the afternoon: "McLaren became aware on the 3rd July 2007 that a senior member of its technical organisation was the subject of a Ferrari investigation regarding the receipt of technical information," it read. "The team has learnt that this individual had personally received a package of technical information from a Ferrari employee at the end of April. Whilst McLaren has no involvement in the matter and condemns such actions it will fully co-operate with any investigation. The individual has in the meanwhile been suspended by the company pending a full and proper investigation of the matter. No further comment will be made," the statement concluded.