The new spygate? F1 team BROKEN into as police investigation begins

Alpine F1 team’s base in Viry-Chatillon was broken into on Monday morning with police now investigating the matter.

Le Parisien reported that, according to a police source, on Monday evening around 10pm two individuals broke a window in the entrance to gain entry to the building’s lobby.

The two intruders then reportedly headed straight for the upper floor where the offices of the Alpine F1 team’s executives and management are located.

No arrests have been made, but an investigation is underway and the Territorial Crime Division have been assigned to the case.

The report alleges that several doors were forced open by the intruders, who seemed to know their way around the Alpine facility. However, the two individuals were not in the premises for long and reportedly only gained entry for ‘five minutes.’

GPFans understands that no material damage was found and no objects, documents or equipment were stolen. As there were no employees in the base at the time, no one was hurt.

With an investigation now underway, forensic investigators are gathering evidence to determine what the two intruders were looking for at the company. The report concludes that with theft ruled out, all other leads are being investigated, including industrial espionage.

Industrial espionage in F1 and Spygate

There is certainly no implication that what happened at Viry-Chatillon on Monday was at all a replication of the controversy in 2007, also known as Spygate; but industrial espionage has occurred in F1 before.

Spygate involved former Ferrari employee Nigel Stepney, who passed on team documentation to McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan and detailed what is estimated to be almost 800 pages-worth of Ferrari’s secrets.

Coughlan then gave these designs to his wife Trudy Coughlan, who brought them to a photocopying shop in Woking. However, the photocopier blew the whistle on the documents, with the FIA launching their own investigation into the matter.

The FIA found that while McLaren had been in possession of the documents, there was no evidence that Ferrari’s design secrets were used for the design of their car.

Nevertheless, McLaren were disqualified from the constructors’ championship and handed a $100million fine, the largest of any in F1 history. McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso retained their points in the championship, but eventually lost out in 2007 to Kimi Raikkonen by one point.

READ MORE: Ferrari told to impose media blackout after attack on Hamilton and Leclerc

Related