McLaren not yet off the hook as spying scandal is sent to court of appeal

Formula one's governing body has reopened the investigation into the spying scandal by referring to a court of appeal the decision of the World Motor Sport Council not to punish McLaren. McLaren had escaped any penalty in the WMSC hearing due to "insufficient evidence'", though they were found to be guilty of possessing classified material belonging to Ferrari.
Luigi Macaluso, president of the Italian motor sport body CSAI, had written to the FIA president Max Mosley to express his surprise at the WMSC's decision. In the letter Macaluso pointed out that the sport's precedents for breaches of the relevant law - 151c of the international sporting code - suggest that a penalty would have been appropriate. He ended the corrspondence by requesting that Mosley refer the case to the FIA's international court of appeal.


Mosley responded with a fascinating letter which confirmed that depite the numerous suspicions surrounding McLaren's actions there was nothing that amounted to proof. However, he added that he was sending the matter to appeal because of "the importance of public confidence in the outcome".
It means that for McLaren there is still a very real possibility of a points deduction or even a total ban.