Coughlan apologizes to Ferrari
Speaking publicly for the first time in months, Coughlan has admitted to obtaining Ferrari documents from Nigel Stepney, although claims he did little more than page through them.
However, that was enough to put McLaren's participation in the F1 World Championship at risk as well as bring an end to his own future in motorsport.
"I sincerely regret my actions in accepting the information from Stepney and the fact that I did not take more steps to stop him providing this information to me," Coughlan told Autosport.
"With the benefit of hindsight, I can now see how I should have handled matters very differently, but at the time, having found myself in an uncomfortable and difficult position, my indecision as to how best to deal with this led me to fail to take proper action at all.
"I wish to apologize to Ferrari. My passion and enthusiasm for race-car engineering design has caused me to exercise poor judgment in my dealings with Mr. Stepney.
"I enormously regret the unfair embarrassment I have caused to McLaren and to my wife.
"I can honestly say that McLaren received no benefit whatsoever in relation to their car or any aspect of its performance and that no use of any of the material has been made in relation to the car."