Renault guilty but escape penalty

By Alan Baldwin

LONDON (Reuters) - Former world champions Renault escaped punishment on Thursday despite being found guilty in the second major spying controversy to hit Formula One this year.

Representatives of the French team had been summoned to appear before the governing body in Monaco to answer charges of unauthorised possession of McLaren technical information between September 2006 and last October.

"They were found to be in breach of article 151c but there is no penalty," a spokesman for the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said after a World Motor Sport Council hearing lasting several hours.

A detailed reasoning will be published on Friday, with a full transcript of the hearing to be released as soon as possible after that.

McLaren were fined $100 million (49.3 million pounds) and stripped of all their constructors' points in September after facing similar charges over a raft of Ferrari data found at the home of their chief designer Mike Coughlan.

However they had also escaped punishment, despite a clear breach of the rules, at an earlier hearing in July before fresh proof emerged.

Thursday's outcome could pave the way for a return to Renault of double world champion Fernando Alonso, who left McLaren last month after just one season with the team.

The Spaniard, who has been linked to a number of teams in the last month, was widely seen to be wary of committing to Renault while the threat of a sanction hung over them.