FORMULA One faces another explosive espionage drama, after a memo was leaked to detail the extent of Renault's alleged involvement in "Spygate II".

If proven, the alleged theft of McLaren's technical plans may be on an even worse scale than when Ferrari data was found in possession of the British team and cost them an unprecedented US$100 million (S$144 million) fine.

The incendiary memo, leaked by McLaren ahead of next month's hearing into the case, claims that Renault possessed 780 drawings outlining the entire technical blueprint of the 2006 and 2007 McLaren cars.

The designs were allegedly uploaded onto 11 Renault computers, and were discussed by up to 18 Renault personnel - including "the Renault seven", a group of senior engineering chiefs and heads of department.

Among them were the Renault chief designer, the head of research and development, the head of mechanical design, the head of transmission design and the head of vehicle performance, reported The Times.

The leak from McLaren serves two purposes.

It dispels any notion that Renault's indiscretion was not as serious as theirs.

But, according to The Telegraph, the leak also allows McLaren, still smarting at the treatment meted out by the World Motor Sport Council over the Ferrari affair, to stick the boot into the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

It was in September that the sports' governing body, the FIA, found McLaren guilty of possessing the 780-page dossier of Ferrari information that was found in the home of their chief designer, Mike Coughlan.

The team chief Ron Dennis had long insisted no one else, including him, knew about the dossier, which was delivered by disgruntled Ferrari head of performance Nigel Stepney in April.

But it was later proven that Ferrari's work, notably with Bridgestone tyres and car set-ups, was even passed on to former driver Fernando Alonso.

Still, the FIA acknowledged that there was no indubitable proof of any Ferrari technology on the McLaren cars, and the US$100 million fine has set an uncomfortable precedent.

Renault, a smaller team than McLaren, will simply not be able to absorb a similar punishment. Depending on how much McLaren can prove, the French team even face the prospect of being thrown out next season.

The "Renault-gate" affair came to light in September when it emerged that Phil Mackereth, the former McLaren engineer who joined Renault in March last year, had taken with him 11 old-style floppy disks containing McLaren technical drawings.

Renault claimed the drawings covered only four "basic systems", at least one of which was obsolete, and that none of the information was used on their cars. They also insist that the drawings were deleted immediately from the team's computer once they were discovered.

McLaren paint a very different picture.

The leaked memo, which quotes from McLaren's submission to the FIA's World Motor Sport Council that is due to hear the case on Dec 6, indicates that at the time Mackereth left McLaren, 33 files of technical information were copied on to the floppy disks.

A spokesman for Renault said: "We will be making no further comment until the hearing."

The latest scandal could scupper Alonso's plan to rejoin Renault, after quitting McLaren last month following a rocky 2007 season.