Ferrari has swiftly responded to the detailed letter which explained the 'moving floor' episode from the perspective of Ron Dennis, the CEO of McLaren, saying that it "contains accusations that are both serious and false." As the action got underway on the race track at the Hungaroring ahead of tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix, the sensational 'espionage' case was still making the headlines.

"With regard to the points made by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes concerning the 2007 Australian Grand Prix in a letter to the President of the ACI-CSAI, Gino Macaluso on 1 August last, Ferrari wishes to state very strongly that its letter contains accusations that are both serious and false," said the Ferrari press release yesterday. Contrary to the statement put forward by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, Ferrari never illegally gained any advantage. The two F2007 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," Ferrari's statement concluded.

This latest letter came as a response to the detailed missive by Ron Dennis the Chairman and CEO of McLaren-Mercedes who tackled the issue of the 'moving floor' from his perspective and also justified secretly receiving information about this part of the Ferrari F1 car as being part of the jurisdiction of a 'whistleblower' incident.
 

"In March 2007," wrote Ron Dennis, "Mr Stepney of Ferrari contacted Mr Coughlan and informed him about two aspects of the Ferrari car which he regarded being in breach of FIA regulations. Specifically, he told Mr Coughlan about a floor attachment mechanism and a rear wing separator, both of which could be and were seen on the Ferrari car prior to the Australian Grand Prix.

"Mr Coughlan immediately told McLaren's senior management about Mr Stepney's allegations. McLaren took steps to confirm whether the allegations were true, and we concluded that they were. Accordingly we reported these two matters to the FIA, adopting the customary practice of asking the FIA Technical Department for their opinion. As regards the rear wing separator, the FIA subsequently ruled that this was compliant with the Technical Regulations. However the FIA ruled that this floor device was illegal. You will appreciate the significance of this. As far as we are aware, Ferrari ran their cars with this illegal device at the Australian Grand Prix, which they won. In the interests of the sport, McLaren chose not to protest the result of the Australian Grand Prix even though it seems clear that Ferrari had an illegal competitive advantage.

"Ferrari only withdrew the floor device after it was confirmed to be illegal by the FIA. Were it not for Mr Stepney drawing this illegal device to the attention of McLaren, and McLaren drawing it to the attention of the FIA, there is every reason to suppose that Ferrari would have continued to race with an illegal car," added Mr Dennis.