McLaren’s image on the line

The escalation of the Formula One "espionage" row, with McLaren called to a hearing in front of the sport's governing body, the FIA, is a bitter blow to the English team, which prides itself on propriety.

The team's chief, Ron Dennis, has transformed success on the track into a multi-million pound company linked with some of the world's largest blue-chip operations. The purity of the team's image is a key element in its commercial success, and this now stands to be tainted by the investigative process.

This week the focus has been on McLaren's chief designer Mike Coughlan, who along with wife Trudy, faced a preliminary hearing at London's High Court on Tuesday about the alleged theft of technical information. He has been suspended by the team.

This week the FIA announced that they were summoning McLaren to an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council later this month, leaving Lewis Hamilton in danger of seeing his first quest for the world championship end in court.

This is hardly a positive marketing message in a sport where image is everything. Last weekend, McLaren launched their new mobile team headquarters. A vast, three-storey, mirror-windowed structure, it was quickly dubbed "Terminal Six" by paddock wags. But the proper title of the edifice is far more significant. More at Telegraph.co.uk