Stepney approches Honda Team

Honda have become the third team embroiled in Formula One's 'spy' controversy when they confirmed that the two men accused in the affair had approached them looking for jobs earlier in the year.

Honda say Nigel Stepney, formerly of Scuderia Ferrari, met with them in June of this year and brought with him Mike Coughlan of McLaren, with a view to investigating job opportunities within the Honda Racing F1 team. The team says Honda would like to stress that at no point during this meeting was any confidential information offered or received.

Honda's Nick Fry informed Ferrari boss Jean Todt and McLaren's Ron Dennis of the meeting and has offered to provide any information required by Ferrari and McLaren.Ferrari dismissed former technical manager Stepney earlier in the week. They have taken legal action against him and a senior McLaren technical employee, widely identified in newspapers as chief designer Coughlan, over “the theft of technical information.”Briton Stepney said on Thursday, on his return to Italy from a vacation in the Philippines, that he was “surprised” by Ferrari's actions and denied any wrongdoing. Championship leaders McLaren have assured Ferrari none of the leaked information had been incorporated into their race-winning car. The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) is checking that is the case.

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

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