Lewis Hamilton has been asked by Ron Dennis, the embattled team principal of McLaren Mercedes, to play a key role in the team’s last-ditch attempt today to avoid heavy punishment over their role in the Formula One spying scandal.

McLaren will appear before the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris this morning to answer new allegations that they have cheated this season by using technical information stolen from Ferrari.

Until now, Hamilton, who leads the World Championship by three points from Fernando Alonso, his team-mate, has been allowed by McLaren to concentrate on his racing. But it seems that McLaren feel they need Hamilton’s presence at the FIA’s headquarters at the Place de la Concorde, in what appears to be an attempt to remind the 26 members of the WMSC what is at stake for Formula One’s brightest young star.

McLaren may sense an opportunity to remind the members of the damage they may do to a classic championship fight between Hamilton, Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, of Ferrari, if they impose a penalty on their drivers by deducting championship points. McLaren are aware that such a move would be unpopular among millions of Formula One fans.

The decision to deploy Hamilton comes after his outspoken comments on the scandal in Monza, Italy, on Sunday, when he spoke for the first time of his fears that the FIA could wreck his chances of winning the title in his rookie year, which has not been done before. Using graphic imagery, Hamilton referred to the danger that an FIA “knife” could cut off his championship and racing “blood line”.

It is not known what role Hamilton will play in a large delegation from the team’s headquarters in Woking, Surrey, to the French capital that will also include Pedro De La Rosa, the test driver, whose alleged e-mails to Alonso are thought to feature prominently in the case against the team. Significantly, perhaps, Alonso will not be at the hearing but will be in Spa, where the Belgian Grand Prix is being staged this weekend.

One possibility is that Hamilton may be called to act as a character witness for the team and Dennis. The McLaren team principal has staked his credibility on his claim that the team and their cars have not been contaminated by a dossier of Ferrari secrets found in the possession of Mike Coughlan, the suspended chief designer, or by phone and e-mail traffic between Coughlan and Nigel Stepney, the former Ferrari chief mechanic.

The hearing in Paris comes as Damon Hill, the former world champion, adds his voice to the chorus of unease about the FIA’s investigation into McLaren. Speaking to The Times yesterday, Hill said that he was concerned that favouritism towards Ferrari, plus the antipathy between Max Mosley, the FIA president, and Dennis could be influencing the case.

“There is a feeling that this is not a purely independent and unbiased investigation,” Hill said. “There is a feeling that the sport has got a bias towards one team. I think there is some basis for that accusation. Ferrari have always been very important to the sport. They have always played that card. The sport makes allowances for Ferrari and has done for a long time.

“But what’s going on right now, that’s the question. Can we entirely trust these claims against McLaren or are they being inflated to make life very difficult for a team \ which was for a long time looking to form a breakaway series to Formula One? It’s this sort of background politics which creates a lot of unease.”

The well-publicised feud between Mosley and Dennis is another factor that Hill believes is worrying fans of the sport. “It would be more comforting if we didn’t know there was less than total respect between individuals who are high up in the sport,” Hill said. “Max has alluded many times to his feelings about Ron. Ron has remained relatively quiet about it. I think it is felt that this is personal. It is very difficult to see it as being entirely separate. In some ways Formula One behaves a bit like a dysfunctional family. There is always bad feeling. I think this is damaging for the sport.”

The FIA has responded robustly to claims that its investigation of McLaren amounts to a vendetta against Dennis. Its spokesman went on the record at the weekend to underline that its activities in trying to get to the bottom of the affair are driven by the pursuit of sporting fairness and the personalities involved are irrelevant.

The decision-makers

— The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council is made up of 26 heads of national motorsport authorities who have travelled to Paris for today’s hearing from all over the world.

— The day-long session, held in camera at the FIA’s headquarters at the Place de la Concorde, will start with an opening address from Max Mosley, the organisation’s president.

— Members of delegations from McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari will make submissions before the council is given the chance to question them.

— The council will then consider its verdict and hand out a punishment, if it is required. This could range from a large fine to the deduction of constructors’ and/or drivers’ points or expulsion from this year’s and next year’s championships.