FIA publishes e-mails in McLaren spy case

By Alan Baldwin

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (Reuters) - Formula One's governing body published e-mails between McLaren drivers on Friday that it said proved the team had made use of information leaked from title rivals Ferrari.

McLaren were stripped of their 2007 constructors' points on Thursday and fined a record $100 million (50 million pounds) after a hearing into a spying controversy. The decision effectively handed that championship to Ferrari.

However, drivers' championship leader Lewis Hamilton and McLaren team mate Fernando Alonso, were allowed to keep their points after the FIA wrote to them offering an immunity in return for providing evidence.

The 'spy saga' began in July when a 780 page dossier of Ferrari data was found at the home of now-suspended McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan, who has been accused of receiving it from Ferrari's Nigel Stepney.

In a 15-page document released at the Belgian Grand Prix, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said that while Hamilton had replied that he had no information to offer, Alonso and test driver Pedro de la Rosa had both submitted "highly relevant" e-mails.

"All the information from Ferrari is very reliable. It comes from Nigel Stepney, their former chief mechanic -- I don't know what post he holds now," De la Rosa e-mailed Alonso on March 25 in an exchange about the Ferrari's weight distribution.

"He's the same person who told us in Australia that Kimi (Raikkonen) was stopping in lap 18. He's very friendly with Mike Coughlan, our chief designer, and he told him that."

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