PRESS RELEASE ON BEHALF OF VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES
The FIA has asked us to correct certain factual errors contained
in a press briefing given on our behalf by one journalist
concerning Renault F1 and we are pleased to do so. The corrections
are as follows.
In our briefing, we stated that there were 18 witness statements
from Renault employees admitting that they had viewed McLaren
confidential information.
To the extent that this implied that 18 different Renault
employees admitted viewing McLaren confidential information
it was inaccurate. 13 Renault F1 employees provided 18 witness
statements and 9 of them have so far admitted they viewed
and discussed the confidential technical information belonging
to McLaren.
We stated that the confidential information on computer disks
was uploaded onto 11 Renault computers.
This is not accurate. Mr Mackereth copied information onto
11 computer disks. The information on these 11 computer disks
was uploaded by Renault IT staff in September 2006 onto Renault’s
T: drive and then transferred by Mr Mackereth to his personal
home directory stored on Renault's network server. A back
up copy of the material on Mr Mackereth’s personal directory
was made onto an unknown number of Renault’s back up
servers/tapes.
Our briefing could have been interpreted as suggesting that
the Renault employees who admitted sight of McLaren Confidential
Information all viewed it on computer screens.
Only Mr Mackereth and Mr Hardie admit viewing McLaren Confidential
Information on Mr Mackereth’s computer. The other seven
employees who have admitted seeing McLaren Confidential Information
admit seeing it in the form of computer print outs or hard
copy documents.
We said that the information on the 11 computer disks taken
by Mr Mackereth included 780 individual drawings.
This was an error. The information taken by Mr Mackereth
on floppy disks, in hard copy form and by email amounts to
762 pages when printed out. The 11 computer disks included
18 individual technical drawings. Mr Mackereth also admits
that he took hard copy drawings of McLaren’s dampers.
We said that the McLaren information amounted to the "entire
technical blueprint of the 2006 and 2007 McLaren car".
This requires clarification. The position is that, the McLaren
drawings plus the information in a confidential MP4 - 22A
Specification document taken by Mr Mackereth constitute a
technical definition of the fundamental layout of the 2007
McLaren car and the technical details of its innovative and
performance enhancing systems.
We are pleased to assist the FIA in making the above clear
in advance of tomorrow's hearing.
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