High Court Opens F1 Spying Row Case

The spying row that has overshadowed the last few weeks of the F1 season has
reached the High Court with Ferrari filing a case against a chief designer from
rival team McLaren.

In the High Court yesterday, Ferrari brought a case against McLaren chief
designer Mike Coughlan, who was found to have documents belonging to the team in
his house.

Ferrari allege Coughlan’s wife took a 780-page package of Ferrari documents
to a photocopying shop for reproduction.

At a preliminary hearing, Coughlan and his wife Trudy were named as
defendants and ordered to pay costs following a search of their home last week.

Ferrari had earlier won a court order to search the Coughlans’ home when the
documents were found, together with computers which are to be examined by
experts.

Coughlan has already been linked to Ferrari head of performance Nigel
Stepney, who has been sacked by the Italian team after being accused of leaking
secrets to McLaren.

Coughlan has been suspended by McLaren until the outcome of the High Court
proceedings.

World motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, is conducting its own
investigation, involving a detailed examination of the McLaren cars.