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PARIS - McLaren said they had been harshly treated after Formula One's governing body ended the team's constructors' championship hopes.
"We shouldn't have been punished in this way," chief executive Martin Whitmarsh told reporters after a hearing of the International Automobile Federation (FIA's) World Motor Sport Council.
The hearing stripped the Mercedes-powered team of their 2007 constructors' championship points for having leaked Ferrari information in their possession but allowed the drivers' championship to stand unchanged.
"The most important thing is that we will be going motor racing this weekend, the rest of the season and every season," said team boss Ron Dennis.
"This means that our drivers can continue to compete for the World Championship. However, having been at the hearing today I do not accept that we deserved to be penalised in this way.
"Today's evidence given to the FIA by our drivers, engineers and staff clearly demonstrated that we did not use any leaked information to gain a competitive advantage," added the 60-year-old Briton.
The FIA had threatened to kick McLaren out of this and next year's championship after saying it had new evidence in a spy saga that has gripped the sport since July.
McLaren's problems began when a 780 page dossier of Ferrari information was found at the home in England of chief designer Mike Coughlan, now suspended.
The team said Coughlan, in league with Ferrari's now dismissed employee Nigel Stepney, had acquired the information for their own future purposes and none of it was passed on to McLaren.
"Much has been made in the press and at the hearing today of emails and text messages to and from our drivers," said Dennis.
"The World Motorsport Council received statements from Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Pedro de la Rosa stating categorically that no Ferrari information had been used by McLaren and that they had not passed any confidential data to the team.
"The entire engineering team in excess of 140 people provided statements to the FIA affirming that they had never received or used the Ferrari information.
"We have never denied that the information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of our employees at his home. The issue is: Was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today," he said.
Honda have confirmed talking to both Coughlan and Stepney about job opportunities before the scandal broke and Dennis said Toyota had also been approached by the pair.
Dennis again told reporters that his personal future at the team had never been in question and he had no intention of retiring.
"We have got the best drivers and the best car and we intend to win the world championship," he said.
- REUTERS
