RATHER than being cleared up, the spying sagas that dominated Formula One in the closing stages of the 2007 racing season look set to continue into the New Year.

At its latest meeting in Monaco, the FIA World Motor Sports Council elected to impose no penalty on Renault following allegations that a member of its staff had taken a computer disc full of McLaren secrets with him when he changed jobs.

The FIA found that after leaving McLaren, the engineer, Philip Mackereth, made no other attempt to extract further information from his former team.

The absence of penalties for Renault will almost certainly pave the way for Fernando Alonso rejoining his former team in the coming week.

The council also turned the heat on McLaren, who have some answering to do when they meet on Feb 14. McLaren will be further penalised if found to have used Ferrari technology in their 2008 car.

While the FIA found Renault technically in breach of the Sporting Code, it elected not to impose any penalty owing to the lack of evidence that the championship had been affected.

Of course, a similar decision was initially made back in July, when the FIA staged its first enquiry into the alleged collusion between former Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney and the then-McLaren chief designer, Mike Coughlan.

Then, amid howls of injustice from Ferrari, the enquiry was reopened. As a result, McLaren lost their constructors' championship points and were fined a record S$150 million.

The FIA also ruled that if there was evidence that any elements of Ferrari's intellectual property were used in the design of the 2008 McLaren, the British team could be excluded from the 2008 world championship. Both team and drivers might also be forced to start the season with a negative points score.

It is this decision which will be reviewed in February.

To this end, the FIA installed a team including forensic computer experts from the accounting firm Deloitte, inside McLaren's headquarters.

While McLaren have said that from the start of this process, they are assisting wholeheartedly to clear their name, FIA boss Max Mosley has openly treated this with derision.

Speaking to the UK Press Association immediately after the FIA Hearing on Thursday, he accused McLaren boss Ron Dennis of hiding the truth at the earlier hearings.

Mosley has called for the EGM in Paris, and for the FIA findings to be discussed between McLaren, Ferrari and the other F1 teams.

'I couldn't pretend they told us the truth on the 26th of July' he said. 'And there is reason to suppose they may not have told us the whole truth on the 13th of September either, and that does make it difficult.

'The thing is, I really don't have a problem with Ron, contrary to popular belief. All I want, in each team, is somebody who tells us exactly what is going on, is open and truthful.

'We have very limited time, and it is extremely annoying to go through hundreds and hundreds of pages produced by lawyers who are being paid by the amount of time they can spend on the case.

'It completely detracts from what we are supposed to be doing in the sport. On the other hand, we cannot allow people to - to put it crudely - cheat.'

McLaren are keeping tight-lipped about the situation, and stating that: 'From the very beginning, McLaren have provided the FIA with full access and complete co-operation, and remain confident no confidential information has been incorporated within the team's 2007 and 2008 cars.'

However, the fact remains that Lewis Hamilton (and whoever his teammate may be), will only find out whether they start the World Championship with a chance of winning, just four weeks before the first race.