Ferrari not involved in Hoyle spy case, says Mercedes

Mercedes has formally confirmed that Ferrari is not involved in the ongoing spy investigation into departing engineer Ben Hoyle.

When Mercedes launched legal action against Hoyle the company understood that he would be heading to Maranello. However, as previously reported the Italian team denied that Hoyle would be joining.

In a website statement today Mercedes has sought to clarify the situation and stressed that Ferrari is not part of the story.

The statement said: “There are on-going internal investigations, regarding confidential information being removed from Mercedes by Mr Hoyle, in order to protect against potential damage to both Mercedes and any company which could potentially receive such information.

“Mercedes will continue with these investigations until it can conclude that all the confidential information is recovered, which is anticipated to take a further 2-4 months.”

Regarding Ferrari’s involvement the statement added: “The investigation has shown no reason to believe that information has been transferred to Ferrari, nor have any of the court documents made any allegation regarding any inappropriate conduct by Ferrari.

“Mercedes will continue to protect its interests, including carrying on the legal proceedings against Mr Hoyle, and continue to protect against potential inappropriate transfer of confidential information within the motorsport industry.”