Formula One/Hungarian Grand Prix:Ferrari may not have been able to keep pace with McLaren out on the circuit during the first free practice session for tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix here but the Italian team fired another salvo at their key rival as the controversy continued over whether McLaren gained performance advantage from the stolen technical documents found at the home of their chief designer, Mike Coughlan.

In particular the Ferrari top brass were outraged at allegations from Ron Dennis, the McLaren team principal, to the effect that the Ferrari F2007 driven to victory in this year's Australian Grand Prix by Kimi Raikkonen did not conform to the regulations by virtue of the fact that it was fitted with an illegal flexible floor, which conferred an unfair aerodynamic boost.

Dennis's letter sought to demolish Ferrari's detailed contention that the British team had derived an on-track advantage from access to the illegally acquired Ferrari data. However, Ferrari did not back down and described McLaren's accusations as "both serious and false".

"Contrary to the statement put forward by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, Ferrari never illegally gained any advantage (from the flexible floor)," read their official communique. "The two F2007 cars used in the Australian Grand Prix were deemed by the stewards to be in conformity with the technical regulations, before, during and at the end of the event. If there had been any illegalities, they would have been disqualified.

"In fact, what the FIA (the sport's governing body) did next is commonplace. The FIA took the opportunity to issue a clarification on the interpretation of the regulation and then asked the teams concerned to make the necessary modifications.

"There are actually numerous examples of this in both the recent and distant past which have also involved other teams. At the next sitting of the FIA international court of appeal Ferrari will fully explain its position on the entire matter."

Ferrari's statement came at the end of a day that had started with Nigel Stepney, the former Ferrari engineer recently sacked as the prime suspect in the Italian team's leak inquiry, releasing a statement through his Italian lawyer denying he had tipped off McLaren about the Ferrari floor at that event.

Formula One champions Renault will attend an appeal court hearing into the spying controversy, team head Flavio Briatore said yesterday.

The Italian said the French team would take part because the affair was damaging the sport's image and the outcome was important to everyone. "This story involves everybody sooner or later," Briatore said. "I want to know exactly what is going on because I think it is part of our job. If you see the newspapers in the last two months, we are not talking about who is the guy winning the race or losing the race. The spy story, if you want, is predominant in everything."

Meanwhile on the circuit, Lewis Hamilton had to be satisfied with the third fastest time in the second free practice session after spinning his McLaren into the gravel with a couple of minutes to go as he struggled to avoid the Spyker team's new driver, Sakon Yamamoto.

"Today went smoothly, apart from my spin at the end of the second session which meant I missed out on my last run, so maybe I could have gone a little faster," said Hamilton. "The spin happened as I was catching Yamamoto on a flying lap and I was probably a little fast going into the corner. Despite this we were able to make some positive steps and I am confident with our performance so far."

Fernando Alonso, set the quickest time with Heikki Kovalainen's Renault second and Williams Nico Rosberg fourth.