Alonso quizzed by Italy magistrate

McLaren's Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Spain walks at the pit-lane after the qualifying session for Sunday's Chinese F1 Grand Prix in Shanghai October 6, 2007. Alonso was interviewed by an Italian magistrate for more than two hours on Tuesday as part of a legal probe into Formula One's spying controversy, the magistrate said.

MILAN (Reuters) - Double world champion Fernando Alonso was interviewed by an Italian magistrate for more than two hours on Tuesday as part of a legal probe into Formula One's spying controversy, the magistrate said.

McLaren were stripped all their constructors' points and fined $100 million (49.2 million pounds) last month after being found guilty of benefiting from the possession of Ferrari information.

E-mails between Alonso and the team's test driver Pedro de la Rosa about Ferrari were used as evidence in a hearing of the FIA, the sport's governing body, which led to McLaren's punishment.

Ferrari started a separate legal case against former engineer Nigel Stepney, who is alleged to have passed the information on to suspended McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan.

Giuseppe Tibis, a magistrate in Ferrari's home district of Modena, has broadened the investigation and several McLaren employees were warned at last month's Italian Grand Prix that they were under investigation.

Alonso, though, was called to Modena as a witness and "a person in knowledge of the facts".

"New developments are always possible," Tibis told reporters after the interview.

Spaniard Alonso is just four points behind team mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton with only the Brazilian Grand Prix left this season.