McLaren Mercedes may have discovered key technical details of this year’s Ferrari F2007 before the season even started, it was alleged yesterday, as the Ferrari-McLaren secrets scandal overshadowed the build-up to the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring on Sunday.

In the latest revelation of an affair that is rocking Formula One, Autosport magazine reported that Nigel Stepney, the disaffected Ferrari mechanic, allegedly sent an e-mail to Mike Coughlan, the now suspended chief designer at McLaren, before the season started detailing the moveable “floor” design on the new Ferrari.

Although it is not known what Coughlan did with the e-mail, McLaren asked the FIA, the sport’s governing body, for clarification about Ferrari’s floor design at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. This resulted in a new ruling on floors that required a change in the Ferrari design, after which the Italian team suffered a slump in form.

The disclosure about the e-mail helps to explain why the FIA had previously said that the scope of its investigation into McLaren, whom it has charged with “fraudulent conduct”, goes back to the beginning of March and does not begin at the end of April, when McLaren say Coughlan first received a 780-page dossier of Ferrari secrets.

The situation for McLaren, to coin a phrase, is getting “seriouser and seriouser”, with each revelation tending to undermine assertions by Ron Dennis, the team principal, that Coughlan was the only man in the team involved in the affair and that no secret data from Ferrari has been used by the team in their campaign this season.

For Lewis Hamilton, the danger is that his charge to an historic world title in his rookie season could be derailed if the FIA finds McLaren guilty at an emergency meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris next Thursday. The young British racer has arrived in Germany recovering from a bout of flu and doing his best to try to keep the focus on the racing.

“I haven’t thought about it,” Hamilton said when asked if he was worried he could be thrown out of the championship. “I don’t think it’s going to happen, so I’m not worried. I’m confident with what the team has done over the years and I have all faith in the team. I don’t believe anything like that [passing secrets] would happen in the team.”

The 22-year-old from Stevenage, who has finished on the podium a record nine times in his first nine races, went on to sing the praises of his mentor, Dennis, and McLaren generally. “I’ve only been with the grand-prix team a year, but I have known Ron nine years and this is something he would never do. That’s why I have such great belief in the team. I do feel they are one of the most honest teams out there. There are always teams trying to bend the rules in some way, but I believe we are the most honest. For me, I believe we will be all right.”

One issue for McLaren, whether or not the team are punished by the FIA, is the likelihood that the effort required to deal with the affair will distract it from their performance on the track against a Ferrari team enjoying a resurgence in form. Already, McLaren have effectively lost they chief designer and now they have to prepare for the hearing next week.

Hamilton’s teammate, Fernando Alonso, who trails the Briton by 12 points in second place in the drivers’ championship, underlined the dangers. “I think we don’t know the full history of that and we don’t have the full information,” he said. “I think that as a driver we will try to stay away from that, try to concentrate and try to approach the weekend in a very normal way with the engineers and thinking about the set-up of the car. We are not thinking too much about [the council meeting] next week. What will happen, will happen anyway and they will decide whatever they think is the good thing.”

Honda have confirmed that there will be no change in their driver lineup for next season, with Jenson Button, of Britain, continuing his partnership with the Brazilian, Rubens Barrichello.