As Pitpass predicted, sections of the media are already suggesting that Fernando Alonso, in agreeing to assist the FIA with its enquiries, is effectively doing it to derail the British team's championship hopes.

The fact that the FIA wrote to all three McLaren drivers, having been alerted to e-mails allegedly sent by Pedro de la Rosa to Alonso, will no doubt be ignored by sections of the media, as will the fact that the FIA has made it crystal clear that failing to assist its enquiry will lead to harsh ramifications.

"I only see one option," Alonso told Spain's AS sports newspaper, "and that is to support this investigation and give them what they ask for. When the highest authority in a sport asks you to co-operate, there's nothing you can object to. You've no choice.

"I can't race thinking that I didn't act correctly," he added. "There are moral reasons that tie me to my sport. I can't hide information that could be revealed by others and run the risk that the FIA accuses me of hiding information, and sanctioning me.

"The only thing I have done is meet a moral obligation and respond to what the FIA asked of me," he said. "I won't start judging what I've sent them. They should decide this."

It is claimed that the new evidence the FIA claims to have relates to email correspondence between de la Rosa and Alonso, with the McLaren test driver allegedly informing the World Champion that according to Mike Coughlan - based on information provided by Nigel Stepney - the team is aware how Ferrari gets its best out of the Bridgestone tyres. The e-mail exchange is claimed to have taken place earlier this year at a time when McLaren was still adapting to the products supplied by its new tyre provider.