SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Formula One arrives in Belgium this weekend but an even more important drama will be played out in Paris on Thursday as the 'spygate' saga comes to a conclusion.
If Formula One's governing body, the FIA, find McLaren to have benefited from a leaked 780-page dossier of secret Ferrari technical information, the British team face a punishment that could leave the sport in disarray.
In the worst case scenario, British rookie drivers' title leader Lewis Hamilton and his Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso could be thrown out of the championship this year and McLaren could be suspended for next season too.
Hamilton currently leads Alonso by two points in a thrilling championship battle. But the 'spygate' scandal has cast a gloomy shadow over the season since early July, when it emerged that Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney had given
confidential information to McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan.
In an FIA hearing at the end of that month McLaren were found guilty of unauthorised possession of Ferrari data but no penalty was issued as there was deemed to be no proof that they gained any advantage from the information.
Ferrari were outraged by that conclusion but clung to the FIA's promise that they would revisit the case if fresh evidence came to light.
Ahead of last weekend's Italian Grand Prix it transpired that the FIA themselves had uncovered new evidence and Thursday's meeting, originally scheduled to be a Ferrari appeal, was switched to a full Wold Motor Sport
Council hearing.
The new evidence is said, by the British newspaper The Times, to include details of phone and email correspondence involving, amongst others, Alonso, McLaren test driver Pedro De La Rosa, Coughlan and Stepney.
Throughout the affair McLaren have pleaded total innocence, maintaining that not a single component on their MP4-22 car owes anything to the leaked dossier.
However, it now seems that the best McLaren team boss Ron Dennis can hope for is a heavy fine. A points penalty is also an option for the FIA.
Whatever the result, Dennis can expect little sympathy from arch-rivals Ferrari.
Earlier this week Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo told the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport that his team would 'deserve' the championship even if it were handed to them in a courtroom rather than on the track.
"If the conditions for an off-track victory were met then we would deserve it, because it would have originated from the presupposition that the winners won through illegal, unsporting, and unfair means," he said.
"It's an issue that damages Formula One, and the least is said about it the better. It's in our interest that this ugly story ends quickly and most of all that is ends with the truth."
In the best possible scenario the story will end with justice having been done and all the title contenders, including
Ferrari's Finn Kimi Raikkonen and Brazilian Felipe Massa, able to continue their battle in Belgium.
The Spa-Francorchamps circuit is returning to this year's calendar after a year off in 2006. A new pitlane and paddock enclosure have added to the off-track facilities but on track the venue has always been top-class.
High speed corners galore makes for thrilling racing and the prospect of rain is ever looming.
Raikkonen certainly enjoys the circuit. He has won the last two grands prix in Spa, ironically both with McLaren, and is looking forward to bouncing back
from a bruising qualifying crash in Monza last week with a hat-trick attempt.
He said: "Spa is my preferred circuit. It's a wonderful place I always loved to race there and I like the latest modifications of the track. There are some very fast and challenging corners, where we could exploit some of the
qualities of the Ferrari.
"We'll give it everything to win: I've been twice on the central step of the podium here at the last two races and I want to get back there next Sunday."
Few would begrudge Raikkonen the win, but nearly all would hope that he has to beat the McLaren's of Hamilton and Alonso in order to claim it.
