LEWIS Hamilton may be forced to start the next Formula One season with negative points.

The FIA, the sport's governing body, has ordered that McLaren's 2008 car be thoroughly checked to make sure none of Ferrari's intellectual property has been used.

It is part of the punishment after McLaren were found guilty of possessing confidential Ferrari designs last season.

The data, which was passed to the English team by Ferrari's former engineer Nigel Stepney, cost McLaren a record US$100 million (S$146 million) fine.

"Ferrari data was in the hands of the McLaren chief designer at precisely the moment he was designing the 2008 car," FIA president Max Mosley told The Guardian.

"We will do everything we possibly can to make sure that neither of the McLarens has any element of Ferrari intellectual property in it.

"If it does, we will consider taking action. That would not necessarily prevent them from running, it would be more likely that they would be given negative points."

Earlier this week, Mosley said the importance of 22-year-old rookie Hamilton, who lost the drivers' championship by a single point to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, had been "exaggerated".

The Daily Express slammed Mosley's comments as a "mad rant at Hamilton".

The Daily Telegraph added: "Were he to walk in London prodding infants with sticks, Mosley could not have caused greater offence to the British public."

But PR guru Max Clifford censured the McLaren driver for timing his move to Switzerland to protect his privacy with the release of a biography.

He told PA Sport: "What a stupid thing to do at this time.

"An autobiography at 22, when you've only been in the public eye for 10 minutes, is a bit presumptuous anyway."