Coulthard defends McLaren's 'high integrity'

David Coulthard believes Ron Dennis and McLaren are blameless in the "spying" controversy that sees McLaren face an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sports Council later this month on a charge of "unauthorised possession of documents and confidential information belonging to Ferrari".

The team yesterday expressed "extreme disappointment" at being summoned by the FIA, maintaining the documents "were only in the possession of one currently suspended employee", namely chief designer Mike Coughlan.

Dennis has long maintained his team's innocence, insisting honesty and integrity are of paramount importance to him, qualities he would not dare compromise. Coulthard, who drove for McLaren for nine seasons from 1996-2004, is convinced Dennis is telling the truth.

"I don't doubt Ron Dennis and McLaren's position on it," Coulthard said. "They are too clever and their integrity too high to be involved. As to who's responsible and how far it goes, it will all come out in time I'm sure. The truth is it does happen sometimes. It's not good, it's not sporting and it should really have no place in F1 competition. It's as dodgy as blood-doping in cycling."

Coulthard fears Formula One's image has been tarnished, adding: "In my view the whole saga is disappointing. This isn't a Hollywood movie where when you get to the end credits and it's the end of the story. This could have a long-lasting damaging effect to the integrity of the sport.

"The spin doctors will say there is no such thing as bad publicity, and that if it gets column inches in newspapers and magazines then it alerts more people to F1.

"But I think the sport is strong in its media coverage right now, and the type of companies that invest in F1 consider any whiff of insider trading on technology to be a taboo subject."