BUDAPEST, Aug 3 (Reuters) Formula One champions Renault will attend an appeal court hearing into a spying controversy between McLaren and Ferrari, team head Flavio Briatore said today.
The Italian told a news conference at the Hungarian Grand Prix circuit that the French team would take part because the affair was damaging the sport's image and the outcome was important to everybody.
''This story involves everybody sooner or later,'' he said. ''I want to know exactly what is going on because I think it is part of our job.
''If you see the newspapers in the last two months, we are not talking about who is the guy winning the race or losing the race. The spy story, if you want, is predominant in everything,'' added Briatore.
''I believe this story is damaging everybody a little bit, including me...Stuff like this is not good for the sponsors or anybody.'' Red Bull team chief Christian Horner, whose cars are powered by Renault engines, said they would not be attending.
''The matter doesn't concern our team or any employees of our team and we trust in the governing body to make the right decisions,'' he said.
Briatore said Renault, winners of both titles for the past two seasons, attended a hearing in Paris last week that found McLaren to have been in unauthorised possession of Ferrari documents.
No penalty was imposed on McLaren, 27 points clear of Ferrari with seven races remaining, because of insufficient evidence that they had benefited from the data.
The team have said they did not know their now-suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan had 780 pages of Ferrari information at his home.
The affair has been sent to appeal, with a date yet to be decided. If the earlier verdict is overturned, McLaren could face suspension or even exclusion from the championship.
REUTERS RS KP2210
The Italian told a news conference at the Hungarian Grand Prix circuit that the French team would take part because the affair was damaging the sport's image and the outcome was important to everybody.
''This story involves everybody sooner or later,'' he said. ''I want to know exactly what is going on because I think it is part of our job.
''If you see the newspapers in the last two months, we are not talking about who is the guy winning the race or losing the race. The spy story, if you want, is predominant in everything,'' added Briatore.
''I believe this story is damaging everybody a little bit, including me...Stuff like this is not good for the sponsors or anybody.'' Red Bull team chief Christian Horner, whose cars are powered by Renault engines, said they would not be attending.
''The matter doesn't concern our team or any employees of our team and we trust in the governing body to make the right decisions,'' he said.
Briatore said Renault, winners of both titles for the past two seasons, attended a hearing in Paris last week that found McLaren to have been in unauthorised possession of Ferrari documents.
No penalty was imposed on McLaren, 27 points clear of Ferrari with seven races remaining, because of insufficient evidence that they had benefited from the data.
The team have said they did not know their now-suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan had 780 pages of Ferrari information at his home.
The affair has been sent to appeal, with a date yet to be decided. If the earlier verdict is overturned, McLaren could face suspension or even exclusion from the championship.
REUTERS RS KP2210
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