Honda was approached by spy suspects

Honda has confirmed that the Ferrari and McLaren engineers at the centre of the leaked data scandal currently engulfing Formula 1 jointly approached the team last month with a view to joining its technical staff.

The Japanese manufacturer released a statement at Silverstone this afternoon shortly after McLaren boss Ron Dennis confirmed that a third team was involved in the controversy.

Honda insists that although Nigel Stepney and Mike Coughlan met with team boss Nick Fry and discussed joining the squad, it did not receive any of the confidential data at the centre of the issue.

"Given the speculation surrounding the legal investigations at Ferrari and McLaren, the Honda Racing F1 Team would like to clarify that earlier this year Nigel Stepney, formerly of Scuderia Ferrari, requested a meeting with Nick Fry, Chief Executive Officer of the Honda Racing F1 Team,"read the Honda statement.

"Nigel Stepney subsequently met in June of this year with Nick Fry and brought with him Mike Coughlan of McLaren, with a view to investigating job opportunities within the Honda Racing F1 Team.

"Honda would like to stress that at no point during this meeting was any confidential information offered or received.

"Nick Fry informed Jean Todt and Ron Dennis of the meeting and has offered to provide any information required by Ferrari and McLaren."

Dennis had earlier told the press that he was confident that McLaren would be completely exonerated as new information emerged over the course of the British Grand Prix weekend.

"The team principals involved all met each other this morning, and it was enlightening," said Dennis.

"In the next 48 hours, there will definitely be more information available to the public, and I can say with absolute certainty that we will be completely vindicated."

He also reasserted that he had contacted his Ferrari counterpart Jean Todt and the FIA within an hour of learning that a senior member of his staff had received confidential documents from Ferrari.

Dennis added that the team had supplied a full set of drawings and development documents to the FIA, detailing all updates made to the McLaren chassis since the incident occurred at the end of April.

Source: ITV.com/F1