Stepney leaves Italy protesting his innocence

SILVERSTONE, England, July 8 (Reuters) Former Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney says he has left Italy fearing for his safety after being accused of passing confidential information to McLaren's chief designer.

''There have been high-speed car chases. We've been followed by more than one car, with Italian plates, and when we cornered one of them last Thursday evening the men in it refused to speak,'' the Observer newspaper quoted him as saying today.

''I don't believe they were journalists,'' the 47-year-old Briton added.

''There was tracking gear on my car. Someone was going to get hurt. I had no option to get out of Italy.'' Stepney was dismissed by Ferrari at the start of the week after Formula One's Italian glamour team took legal action against him for the ''theft of technical information''.

McLaren have also suspended a senior technical employee, identified by newspapers as chief designer Mike Coughlan, pending an investigation after Ferrari data was allegedly discovered in his possession.

Honda issued a statement on Friday confirming that Stepney and Coughlan had met team boss Nick Fry in June to discuss job opportunities. They said no Ferrari information had been offered or received.

Stepney revealed that he had approached Fry prior to the meeting with Coughlan present at London's Heathrow airport on June 1.

He added that ''three or four people'' at Ferrari had indicated to him, after hearing of his approach to Honda, that they would be interested in joining a technical group to go to another team.

But he denied passing any information to Coughlan, with whom he had worked previously at Benetton and Ferrari.

IMPORTANT ROLE ''I admit it looks blatantly obvious,'' he said. ''But something is happening inside Ferrari.

''I categorically deny that I copied them (the documents) or that I sent them to Mike Coughlan. I knew I was being watched all the time at the factory and that everything I did or said was being reported back.

''I have no idea how anything came into Mike's possession ... If he has some documents, they came from another source.'' Stepney, who played an important role in the most successful period in Ferrari's history with Michael Schumacher, said the team's attitude towards him had changed before the start of the season.

''I told (team boss) Jean Todt I didn't want to travel any more. I wanted to sit back and consider the future,'' he said.

''Ferrari took that badly.'' ''I began to feel like I was some sort of traitor,'' he added.

''I was never a 'Yes Man' and as soon as I went against the system at Ferrari, I got squeezed. Ferrari is unique in Italy; It's like a religion.

''I'm anxious, naturally, but I haven't done anything wrong and I believe in the legal system in Italy.'' REUTERS BJR KP1643