McLaren lied about not having Ferrari secrets
As McLaren face the FIA's World Motor Sport Council in Paris today, Coughlan has publicly revealed potentially damning evidence against McLaren, who suspended him after the scandal broke.
Coughlan has revealed that it was Stepney, Ferrari's sacked chief mechanic, who provided him with the Scuderia's secrets back in mid-March of this year. Stepney, though, has denied this all along.
"He is not a close friend," Coughlan told Autosport. "We are acquaintances who are both in the business of Formula One and have maintained cordial relations over the years.
"Stepney contacted me for the first time in five years on March 1st 2007.
"He subsequently telephoned me and informed me that he was very unhappy with the direction his career was taking at Ferrari and Mr. Almondo's promotion above him.
"But he did not pass any technical information about Ferrari to me until mid-March 2007."
However, once he did pass that information to Coughlan, the Brit showed it to McLaren, something the Woking team has claimed never happened. The information included designs of Ferrari's floor device, a rear wing flap separator, and a technique to lower the floor of the car.
"Details of the floor device were sent to me by email to my McLaren work email address," Coughlan continued. "I showed the email fleetingly to Martin Whitmarsh, who asked me to take up the issue with Paddy Lowe, McLaren's engineering director.
"I produced a schematic drawing for Lowe, which I understand he forwarded to the FIA. The FIA subsequently declared the floor device as falling outside the regulations.
"Details of the rear wing device were also sent by email to me. I briefly showed this email to Lowe. I understand he reported this to Charlie Whiting of the FIA at the Melbourne Grand Prix, but he was of the opinion that the design was legal.
"As for the information about the subtle engineering technique, I felt it was inconsequential and so I did not show these details to anyone." More at PlanetF1.com