Ferrari could drive unchallenged to the Formula One World Championship next season if two of their main rivals are wiped from the grid by tough new court decisions. The next 48 hours will help to determine the outcome of the 2008 Formula One season because the FIA, the governing body, has called on Renault and McLaren to answer new spying charges.

Such is the scale of punishment available to the FIA that both teams could be prevented from winning any points in the 2008 World Championship, even though they would be allowed to take part. McLaren have suffered the consequences of an FIA judgment that they stole secrets from Ferrari. The result was that all of the team’s points in the constructors’ championship for last season were erased, leaving Ferrari to win the title unopposed, and they were fined a record £50 million.

But the punishment did not stop there. Max Mosley, the FIA president, authorised what he described yesterday as a “forensic examination” of McLaren’s computers to discover whether any of Ferrari’s ideas or components had found their way into the car that McLaren are building for Lewis Hamilton for next year. If they have, the FIA could order McLaren to strip the car of illegal parts and start again, which would probably wreck Hamilton’s hopes of winning the title next season.

Hamilton may have been collecting a barrowload of awards this week, which could culminate with him being crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday, but even his unique talent will not overcome such a setback. Designing a £1 million Formula One car is a complex and time-sensitive business and changes at this late stage, with the new car ready to be rolled out in the new year, would be a serious problem for the team.

But Mosley is unrepentant and said that Formula One fans expect the sport to be clean and he believes that teams are purging it so there can be no fresh accusations of cheating. “If we want a level playing field, we have to be sure as far as we are able that the 2008 McLaren does not incorporate any Ferrari intellectual property that has been illegally acquired,” Mosley said. “I know that top teams are being super careful, revising their procedures and emphasising to all their people that this sort of thing must not happen.”

But Renault, who finished third behind Ferrari and BMW Sauber last season, were seemingly too late to escape Mosley’s forensic sweep and are in the dock today in a court convened in Monaco accused of stealing secrets, ironically, from McLaren.

McLaren, based in Woking, Surrey, allege that Renault were in possession of crucial blueprints for their 2006 and 2007 cars. If the allegations are true, Renault should expect punishment on a similar scale to that which McLaren suffered last season.

Carlos Ghosn, the president of Renault, is known to be lukewarm about his company’s involvement in Formula One and a punitive fine or reputation-damaging charges may convince him to pull the team out of the sport.However, the French team's cause appeared to be aided last night after the FIA ordered McLaren to issue an embarrassing statement admitting that some of the accusations made against Renault were "inaccurate".

With two more days of investigations into what is rapidly becoming known as Formula One’s “Spygate II”, the sport could run the risk of disillusioning the huge new fan base built up during one of the most exciting seasons on record. Mosley, however, is unperturbed. “I don’t think it [Spygate] has done any damage,” he said. “In fact, it has raised the public awareness. That is the paradox. What is important is that people believe the spying has stopped and will continue to be stopped.”

Formula One’s teams were involved yesterday in the final act of the season, with drivers testing new components that will be on their cars next season. But even as they pounded around the cold and deserted circuit in Jerez, Spain, they could be forgiven for believing that there is as much action off the track as on it and that the FIA’s investigations could prove to be as important as their efforts.