Spying nightmare not over yet for McLaren.

The espionage scandal that rocked Formula 1 last year and saw McLaren-Mercedes disqualified from the constructors' world championship and fined a sporting record $100 million USD is far from over yet.

Team boss Ron Dennis - as well as CEO Martin Whitmarsh, suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan and engineering director Paddy Lowe - have all been summoned to face questioning before Italian lawyers in Modena on 18 February as part of a legal investigation into the controversy. Alluding to a report in Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, international news agency Reuters claims a prosecutor has got in touch with the Woking-based outfit to demand their presence in front of magistrate Giuseppe Tibis.

Fellow McLaren employees Jonathan Neale and Rob Taylor have seemingly not yet been contacted as the magistrate did not have their home addresses in England, but disgraced former Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney is on the list. McLaren would only comment to confirm that their lawyers "had received some papers from the Modena authorities which are currently being reviewed".

During the Italian Grand Prix at Monza last September, McLaren had been informed that several key members of the team were to be investigated over the affair, with Dennis one of seven people to receive an 'avviso di garanzia' from the Modena prosecutor, a legal notification that the person is suspected of a crime and is being investigated.

The spying saga broke out in the wake of the Monaco Grand Prix in May, when Ferrari accused Stepney of attempted sabotage following the discovery of a mysterious white powder around the fuel caps of the scarlet machines. In July Coughlan was suspended by McLaren after his wife Trudy was seen photocopying a 780-page Ferrari dossier and the confidential information was found to be at his home, with Stepney later revealed to have been the cause of the leak.

Though McLaren has always strenuously denied having gained any benefit from any of the secret data, in December the team apologised to both the FIA and Ferrari and admitted the information had gone deeper into the organisation than had at first been realised. The sport's governing body subsequently drew a line under the matter and declared the case closed, but Ferrari underlined their intention to persevere with legal action against individuals in both Britain and Italy.

Former McLaren driver Fernando Alonso and test-driver Pedro de la Rosa have already been interviewed by Tibis.