Nigel Stepney has turned the heat back onto Ferrari by claiming that his former Italian employer is still spying on him.
Michael Schumacher’s sacked former chief mechanic, who is at the centre of the espionage saga that has scandalised formula one, hit back at Ferrari just days after Maranello based chiefs expressed rage that McLaren escaped punishment for spying.
“Ferrari spy on me,” Briton Stepney is quoted on Tuesday as telling the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
He said he has again fled Italy, and revealed that he was followed “the whole way” from Modena to France.
“They can do whatever they want to me but they have dragged my family into this,” said Stepney, who claims he is the victim of a set-up.
He added: “Someone gave away the (780 pages of) designs but it wasn’t me.
“Someone set me up and that person is still working for Ferrari.
“But I don’t want to say any more because I only know part of the story. Ferrari knows everything.”
Stepney also said the ‘white powder’ and accusations of sabotage are part of the set up.
“They put the powder in my pants pocket while I was taking a shower,” he insists.
He said he only thought about joining a band of disgruntled Ferrari employees who wanted to defect to another formula one team after his relationship with boss Jean Todt began to break down.
“It would have been led by my friend Ross Brawn,” Stepney said.
He also revealed that he has accepted a new job outside of the sport, categorically ruling out joining McLaren after being labelled a ‘McLaren informer’ by Ferrari’s Italian lawyers.
He said: “I do not like Ron Dennis. I met him (in the past) only once and he suggested that I work for him.”
