A date has been set for the appeal by Ferrari against the decision not to punish McLaren over the espionage saga, despite them being found guilty. According to the FIA, the appeal will be held on 13 September 2007 in Paris. The press are permitted to sit in on the hearing, and rival teams will be allowed to address the court.
The official statement from the FIA reads, “In the interests of transparency the hearing will be open to members of the press and details of the accreditation procedure will be published closer to the time. All of the teams competing in the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship have been given the opportunity to make written submissions to the ICA and have been invited to attend the hearing to supplement their submissions with oral presentations.”
The case centres on Mike Coughlan of McLaren, who was found to be in possession of 780 pages of confidential Ferrari information. McLaren have claimed that they were unaware he had the dossier in his possession and have said that the information contained in the document has not made it s way onto their car. McLaren are accused of breaching Article 151(c) of the International Sporting Code. If found guilty again, McLaren could face being disqualified from the 2007 championship.
Formula 1 champions Renault have already stated their intention to attend the appeal citing the reasons that the saga had been damaging to the sport s reputation and the outcome was of important to everyone.
