The espionage row surrounding the Ferrari and McLaren F1 teams blew back into the headlines this week with the FIA announcing that following the presentation of 'new evidence' the case would be returned to the full World Motorsport Council, rather than the FIA's Court of Appeal as had been originally planned.

"Following the receipt of new evidence the World Motor Sport Council has been reconvened for a hearing in Paris on September 13th," the FIA statement issued on Wednesday read. "In accordance with its decision of July 26th representatives of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes have been invited to attend the hearing. The FIA President’s referral of the matter to the International Court of Appeal has been withdrawn," the statement concluded.

The McLaren-Mercedes team, who along with Ferrari are now at the Monza circuit preparing for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, responded to the fresh developments with a brief statement issued almost immediately afterward. "McLaren Racing has been made aware that new evidence has been presented to the FIA as part of their on-going investigation," read the press release issued in Woking. "As a result we have been informed that the Court of Appeal Hearing scheduled for the 13th September in Paris will now comprise a meeting of the WMSC. McLaren will continue to co-operate fully with the FIA," the statement concluded.

Meanwhile Ferrari, who have been busy collecting evidence as well as taking out legal action cases in London and Modena, made its own official comments yesterday: "Ferrari notes the FIA's decision to call an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council to examine new evidence that has emerged with regards to the accusation that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has violated article 151c of the International Sporting Code. Ferrari will be present at the Council meeting on the 13th September in Paris and wishes to reaffirm its own strong wish that all the elements in this case are brought to light. Ferrari is confident that the truth will out," it added.
 

The dramatic step of reconvening the WMSC, which heard the original evidence where it found McLaren guilty of breaching the sporting code but imposed no penalty, implies that significant new evidence has been uncovered. Italian newspaper La Repubblica yesterday suggested that the former Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney who was sacked over the leak had admitted to meeting the currently-suspended McLaren Chief Designer Mike Coughlan to discuss confidential Ferrari technical information but "only to exchange an opinion with a person I respect." According to the newspaper this was prior to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and was to discuss Ferrari's new 'flexible' floor arrangement and "to evaluate McLaren's reaction."

The whole saga originally kicked off when 780 pages of confidential Ferrari documents were found in Mike Coughlan's house after a tip-off from a nearby photocopying shop. However Stepney continues to deny that he was the source of the documents: "I met Coughlan in Barcelona, but I didn't give him the designs of the F2007, they were stolen from me within Ferrari," he was quoted in La Repubblica yesterday, which also intimated that the pair had recently met to make sure there were no conflicting strands in their statements to the FIA.

Stepney also revealed, said La Repubblica, six names "inside and outside Ferrari" who were planning to leave the Maranello-based organisation. It is also rumoured that Ferrari have the necessary evidence in place relating to the separate case where Stepney is accused of sabotaging the F1 cars prior to the Monaco Grand Prix after a mysterious 'white powder' was found in the petrol tanks. Ferrari is taking out this case to a Modena court.