A clerk in a copy shop in rural Surrey, just outside London got a request to copy a 780-page dossier onto two CDs.
But they weren't the birth certificates, building plans or other dull domestic documents he was used to seeing. They were detailed drawings of a Formula 1 car and emblazoned with the Ferrari logo.
This is the second part of a two-part feature on the 2007 espionage scandal – dubbed Spygate – that gripped Formula 1.
Felipe Massa leads Kimi Raikkonen during the 2007 Italian Grand Prix. Getty
Cough it up
When police and civil investigators raided the estate of Mike and Trudy Coughlan, computers, mobile phones, USBs and other storage cards were seized.
They were interrogated on the whereabouts of the two CDs containing the dossier copied in that shop in Surrey.
Shortly after the raids, McLaren announced Coughlan had been stood down.
Ferrari then confirmed Nigel Stepney, the man who'd been instrumental in the brand's five-year domination of the sport, had been fired – frogmarched out of its Maranello base.
On July 4, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, the sport's governing body (also known as the FIA) announced their investigation had begun.
Mike Coughlan during his time at Williams in 2013. Getty
The scandal made headlines around the world and went beyond the usual motorsport news publications. With the focus of the world upon them, most people would probably go into hiding. But not Stepney.
He held a press conference with British media. His relationship with Coughlan was no secret, and he admitted it looked bad for him, but suggested Ferrari were trying to frame him.
"I have no idea how Mike Coughlan got the documents, and I have no idea what exactly he is supposed to have," he said.
"I categorically deny that I copied them or that I sent them to Mike Coughlan.Â
"I admit it looks blatantly obvious … but something is happening inside Ferrari."
In the same press conference, he would claim his family had been harassed and he had been involved in "high-speed chases" which forced him out of Italy.
"Ferrari is terrified that what I have in my mind is valuable. I guess I know where the bodies are buried from the last 10 years, and there were a lot of controversies in that time."Â
Nigel Stepney in 2006. Getty
Despite McLaren's best efforts and full cooperation with the investigation, the FIA's World Motorsport Council in late July announced the team were in breach of the International Sporting Code.
Fortunately, they agreed the breach was limited to Coughlan and elected against sanctioning the whole team.
Meanwhile, on the track
On the track, McLaren was fast with two sensational pilots in the cockpits.
In car No.1 was reigning two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, whom McLaren had poached from Renault on a three-year deal from 2007.
In the other was rookie Lewis Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso during practice for the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit on April 13, 2007 in Sakhir, Bahrain. Getty
Ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, it was Hamilton leading the world championship from Alonso, with the Ferrari duo of Massa and Kimi Raikkonen in third and fourth. McLaren held a 27-point lead over the red cars in the Constructors' (Teams) Championship.
But scandal was brewing once again.
Among other things, Alonso was growing frustrated by Hamilton's incredible pace, and the fact he was ahead of him in the standings.
In Hungary, Hamilton was instructed to let Alonso pass during Saturday afternoon qualifying. The young Brit refused.
Lewis Hamilton during his debut at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix. Getty
The Spaniard would retaliate by sitting in the McLaren pit box for some 30 seconds after being released late in the session. It forced Hamilton to sit behind him and wait. Doing so meant there wasn't time for McLaren to service Hamilton's car, send him back out onto the track, and make it around to the start-finish line before the clock struck zero.
Alonso took pole but would start sixth after he was slapped with a grid penalty. McLaren would also not be awarded any Constructors' Championship points they earned in the following day's race.
Before the race, Alonso stormed into team principal Ron Dennis' office to vent his rage at the situation. He also insinuated he had information that would be "disastrous" for the team if it leaked.
Hamilton, Alonso, and Nick Heidfeld after qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Getty
Suddenly, Dennis – who had believed the Ferrari information had been restricted to Coughlan – had reason to believe it had spread so far it had made it to the drivers.
Dennis later phoned FIA president Max Mosley, who assured him should the FIA dig up anything that implicated the drivers, he would inform him first.
The FIA did find evidence implicating the drivers, but Mosley didn't tell Dennis before a letter was sent to the team's three drivers – Alonso, Hamilton and test driver Pedro de la Rosa – demanding they turn over any Ferrari information they have.
An aside about Max Mosley. He's the son of Oswald Mosley, the founding leader of the British Union of Fascists. His mother was Diana Mitford. The couple's 1936 wedding was held at the home of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Adolf Hitler was a guest of honour.
Mosley grew up on an estate outside Dublin as his parents had been exiled from the UK after the war for their Nazi connections.
FIA President Max Mosley in 2009. Getty
Downfall
In September, brass from both Ferrari and McLaren were called to the FIA's Paris headquarters on the Place de la Concorde.Â
In this "extraordinary meeting", as the FIA called it, mountains of evidence spilled.
Revealed were not only 288 texts and 35 phone calls between Stepney and Coughlan, but dozens of damning emails between the drivers, and other engineering staff – who referred to their Ferrari source as their "mole". They discussed not only the technical information shared in the dossier but also Ferrari's live race strategy from the opening races of the 2007 season.
Unsurprisingly, the FIA concluded the Ferrari information had found its way to McLaren engineers and drivers, who were using it in an attempt to gain an advantage.
Ron Dennis arrives at the World Motor Sport Council Hearing at the FIA before McLaren was disqualified from the Constructor's Championship. Getty
It was Mosley who had the task of delivering the verdict: McLaren would be stripped of all Constructors' Championship points earned in the 2007 season and fined $100 million.Â
It was and remains to this day the biggest fine in sporting history.
Sometime later, Mosley and Dennis were involved in a photo opportunity with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, where Dennis bemoaned the massive fine handed down to the team.
Mosley is said to have replied: "The fine is $5m for the actual offence, and $95m because you're a c—".
Mosley claimed it was Ecclestone who made the remark.
Mosley was caught up in a scandal of his own not long later, secretly filmed in a "sick Nazi orgy" with five sex workers. The story was broken by the now-defunct News Of The World paper, but the rumour goes they were tipped off by Dennis.
Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone in 2018. AP
Dennis and Mosley had hated each other for decades and rarely missed an opportunity to take a stab at each other.
While the scandal ended Stepney's career, Coughlan continued to work in F1 and NASCAR.
Stepney maintained for years he would one day reveal it all in a book. It even had a name – Red Mist.
But he was killed in a road accident in 2014. Red Mist has never been published, and whether or not any kind of transcript exists remains a source of debate.
A single point
Lewis Hamilton took a four-point lead over Fernando Alonso into the season finale in Brazil. Raikkonen was a further three points behind Alonso.
Hamilton needed to finish only fourth to guarantee himself the title, but disaster struck early in the race in the face of a gearbox drama.
He could only finish seventh. Alonso finished third. Raikkonen led home a Ferrari 1-2 to steal the championship by a single point. Hamilton and Alonso finished in a tie for second.
Several conspiracies doing the rounds that McLaren was instructed not to win the Drivers' Championship as an informal punishment over the Spygate scandal.
It remains Ferrari's last Drivers' title.
Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Lewis Hamilton during the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix weekend. Getty
If all Constructors' points scored through the season were tallied, McLaren should've won by 14 points.
The exclusion of Hungary cost them 15 points, meaning even if McLaren hadn't been disqualified from the championship, they would also have lost that by a single point.
After Alonso returned to Renault in 2008, Hamilton famously won his first championship in Brazil, with a last lap, last corner overtake as rain pelted the Sao Paulo circuit, to win the championship by a point over home hero Felipe Massa.
Although Hamilton won the Drivers' title, Ferrari claimed the Constructors' for a second-straight year.
Alonso, meanwhile would find himself at the centre of another cheating scandal barely 12 months later when it emerged Nelson Piquet Jr had been instructed to deliberately crash in Singapore in for Alonso to win.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are among the favourites to win the 2025 world championship. Getty
However, just how much involvement Alonso had in the scandal is still debated today.
McLaren entered a lean period in the following years, and it would be another 16 years before they won the constructors title again.
With Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the wheel, McLaren won six races in 2024 – four with Norris and two for Piastri.Â
With the regulations to remain stable for 2025 before a complete overhaul for 2026, McLaren will start the season among the favourites to win at least one, if not both championships.
The 2025 F1 season starts with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16.
