Stepney meets with 'spygate' investigator

Disgraced Ferrari technical manager Nigel Stepney has been interviewed by the Italian magistrate investigating the final throes of the espionage saga that rocked Formula One last season.

The Briton, who denies any wrongdoing in either that affair or an alleged sabotage attempt against his employer ahead of last year's Monaco Grand Prix, told reporters that he felt 'very calm' after the interview, which was conducted by Modena prosecutor Giuseppe Tibis, who has been appointed to deal with Ferrari's grievances.

08.09.2006 Monza, Italy, Nigel Stepney (GBR), Scuderia Ferrari, Race technical manager - Formula 1 W
08.09.2006 Monza, Italy, Nigel Stepney (GBR), Scuderia Ferrari, Race…
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Disgraced Ferrari technical manager Nigel Stepney has been interviewed by the Italian magistrate investigating the final throes of the espionage saga that rocked Formula One last season.

The Briton, who denies any wrongdoing in either that affair or an alleged sabotage attempt against his employer ahead of last year's Monaco Grand Prix, told reporters that he felt 'very calm' after the interview, which was conducted by Modena prosecutor Giuseppe Tibis, who has been appointed to deal with Ferrari's grievances.

Although the spying matter has been settled on a sporting level by a World Motor Sport Council hearing - with rival McLaren being fined $100m and docked all of its 2007 points for designer Mike Coughlan's role in accepting information from Stepney - the Scuderia is intent on pursuing private proceedings against figures it feels are key to the whole affair. Former McLaren driver Fernando Alonso and team-mate Pedro de la Rosa have already been interviewed by Tibis, while a meeting with McLaren boss Ron Dennis and members of the team management has been rescheduled for a later date.

Stepney, who was described by Tibis as both 'collaborative and thorough' during their meeting, insists that he has done nothing wrong, although he admits to having contact with Coughlan - something his lawyer, Sonia Bartolini, confirmed before claiming that others had not been investigated deeply enough about their roles in the affair.

Stepney has apologised to McLaren for how the matter turned out, but maintains that he never intended for any of the information disclosed to be used by the British team. Instead, he confirms the suspicions of many inside the sport that he had intended to collude with Coughlan in taking their pooled knowledge to a third party - widely rumoured to have been the ailing Honda team now headed by former Ferrari technical chief Ross Brawn.

"I don't feel responsible in any way at all for what happened at McLaren," Stepney told Sky Sports' World Motorsports programme earlier this year, "My original idea was to make contact with somebody - not to benefit, but to see what I could do somewhere else with a group of people. Obviously, it got a bit sensitive and somebody used information more than I actually thought it [would be used]. It should never have been used to that extreme."

Stepney, who was also accused of attempting to sabotage Ferrari's cars ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix when white powder was found in the fuel tanks, has also hinted that much of the espionage row lies unrevealed, suggesting Ferrari had got off extremely lightly, having received key information about McLaren's car from Coughlan.

The 49-year old has since found employment with Gigawave, a company producing on-board cameras for the FIA GT Championship, MotoGP and other major series, which also has links to a GT1 team bearing its name.

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