Italian magistrate to question McLaren bosses

A prosecutor has asked McLaren boss Ron Dennis and other key figures in the Formula One team to face questioning in Italy as part of a legal probe into last year's spying controversy over leaked Ferrari data.

McLaren confirmed on Thursday that their lawyers "had received some papers from the Modena authorities which are currently being reviewed".

The team gave no details but Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper reported on Wednesday that magistrate Giuseppe Tibis intended to hear Dennis, chief executive Martin Whitmarsh, suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan and engineering director Paddy Lowe on Feb. 18.

Former Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney was also on the list, the newspaper added, but McLaren employees Jonathan Neale and Rob Taylor were not because the magistrates did not have their home addresses in England.

There was no immediate confirmation from the prosecutor and Tibis's office said he was on holiday.

The McLaren men were notified during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September that they were under investigation as part of enquiries into the leak of a 780-page technical dossier from rivals Ferrari.