The Formula One spying scandal took a sensational new turn in Italy yesterday as it emerged that Fernando Alonso, the team-mate of Lewis Hamilton, and Pedro de la Rosa, the team’s test driver, may have been forced to hand over sensitive information to the FIA, the sport’s governing body.

On Wednesday, the FIA stunned Formula One by announcing that it is to hold a fresh hearing in Paris next week into claims that McLaren used Ferrari technical secrets on their race cars this season, which the team strenuously deny. If found guilty, McLaren face the possibility of being thrown out of this year’s championship and next year’s as well.

Although the FIA indicated that it had received new evidence that sensitive technical information may have been used by McLaren, it did not say who the source was. This sparked a frenzy of speculation in Monza, where the Italian Grand Prix is being held on Sunday, with Alonso and De La Rosa at the heart of it.

It appears that the FIA has received a tip-off about the existence of new evidence in the past month. Early last week it wrote to all 11 team principals in Formula One asking them to disclose anything untoward that they may have knowledge of, in the interests of the sport. Intriguingly, the FIA also wrote to the three drivers at McLaren — Hamilton, Alonso and De La Rosa — but to no others.

The letter to the drivers was slightly different from the one sent to the team principals and, in addition to appealing to them to co-operate with the FIA’s investigation, it is thought to have promised them amnesty from punishment should any disclosures they make lead to sanctions against McLaren.

The Times understands that the FIA’s inquiries and the subsequent responses concerned an e-mail exchange between De La Rosa and Alonso that allegedly included sensitive technical information garnered from Ferrari via Mike Coughlan, the McLaren chief designer who has been suspended. Coughlan sparked the spying scandal when Ferrari discovered that he had received a large dossier of the team’s technical secrets this season.

Neither Alonso nor De La Rosa commented on the details yesterday. Alonso attended various interviews, but he was prevented by McLaren staff from answering questions on the spying affair. The claims were put to Ron Dennis, the embattled McLaren team principal, through an intermediary. However, Dennis declined to comment for “legal reasons”, other than to say that the team will continue their co-operation with the FIA investigation.

If Alonso and De La Rosa have been required to hand over material, it could have serious consequences for McLaren, who in recent weeks have lauded the role of so-called whistleblowers in Formula One acting in the interests of the sport.

The latest twists in this saga will have done nothing to ease tensions in a team struggling to cope with the hostility between Alonso and Hamilton. Alonso and his advisers have also made it clear that the world champion is unhappy at McLaren and his future with the team is in doubt.

In a separate development last night, McLaren were fined $50,000 (about £25,000) by the FIA for not disclosing the details of a “lightweight” gearbox that the team used at the Hungarian Grand Prix in time for the equipment to undergo crash tests.

After a meeting to consider the matter in Monza, the FIA stewards said: “Had such information been imparted in due time, the tests could have been satisfactorily completed prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix such that their use at this event would have been without criticism.”