Lets All Stop This Over-Hyped Spying Nonsense

[Wizzo]

This year's espionage scandal would have been dwarfed by other instances of spying in formula one that went unnoticed, according to Adrian Newey.

The Red Bull designer, who for years penned championship winning cars for Ron Dennis' Woking based team, said the so-called Stepneygate saga involving Ferrari secrets in 2007 was "over-hyped".

"Such things have always gone on in the industry and will always continue to do so," the 48-year-old Briton told F1's official website.

Newey said: "The fact is that there have been far bigger breaches of personnel taking info with them from one team to another in the past which have gone undetected or without penalty.

"My personal opinion is that anything anyone can take with them in their head is fair game, but anything that is written or in electronic format is not," he added.