Ron Dennis arrived for a crucial FIA hearing looking rather sombre knowing fully well that a decision against his team could have serious consequences on the rest of the season. The FIA has the power to either dock his team some points or ban them for the season.

More important than the punishments that may be meted out to McLaren, Max Mosley's pronouncement that "The credibility of F1 and sporting fairness is at stake," has greater bearing on the overall outcome of the incident. The drama, however, has played itself out for nearly three weeks in the media. And it continues even on the day of the hearing!

According to British newspaper the Guardian, Ferrari state in a recent document submitted to the London High Court that the stolen documents found in Coughlan's possession were beneficial to the McLaren team in the Formula One championship. "The difference between the two teams [in the world championship standings] is so close that it is likely that McLaren's superior number of points is a consequence of its chief designer having the Ferrari documents," is what the document reportedly says.

Nigel Stepney, formerly of Ferrari and Mike Coughlan, the co-accused of McLaren who was found with Ferrari's 780-page technical document are both denying that the details were indeed used by McLaren.

Ron Dennis too has maintained that the team was unaware of anything of the sort happening prior to the information being found at Coughlan's home and said none of the data in the document found its way into the design or development of its race-winning MP4-22.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who are currently the top two in the driver's championship, stand to lose a great deal should the judgement go against McLaren.