(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-06 09:37

LONDON - Formula One's governing body will question Renault on Thursday in a hearing that could determine whether double world champion Fernando Alonso returns to his former team.

On Friday, the Spaniard's erstwhile McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton will discover whether his 2008 title bid is to be handicapped months before the season starts in Australia next March.

Both Renault and McLaren will be in the spotlight when the International Automobile Federation (FIA)'s World Motor Sport Council meets in Monaco.

The French team face charges of unauthorised possession of confidential McLaren information while their Mercedes-powered rivals are still under scrutiny for an earlier spying controversy involving Ferrari data.

Renault, who are accused of having McLaren data from September 2006 to October of this year, say their cars were untainted by information brought to them by former McLaren employee Phil Mackereth, who has since been suspended.

However McLaren, who were fined $100 million and stripped of all their constructors's points in the earlier saga, believe their rivals -- champions in 2005 and 2006 with Alonso -- gained an unfair advantage.

A note leaked to reporters last month revealed that the information concerned 780 individual drawings "outlining the entire technical blueprint of the 2006 and 2007 McLaren cars".

It also alleged that up to 18 Renault employees, including seven engineering bosses and heads of department, had discussed the information.

POINTS PENALTY

Renault, who failed to win a race this year, face potentially the same penalties as those imposed on McLaren earlier in the year.

Alonso, who has split with McLaren after just one season with the team, is widely believed to be awaiting the outcome before committing himself to a return to Renault.

If his former team are heavily penalised, then the Spaniard may switch his focus elsewhere with Renault-powered Red Bull seen as the most likely alternative despite having both Australian Mark Webber and Briton David Coulthard under contract.

The World Motor Sport Council is expected to reach a decision on Thursday before turning their attentions to McLaren's 2008 car.

The FIA said after punishing the team in September that they would investigate further to ensure that no Ferrari data appeared in next year's car.

FIA president Max Mosley has suggested that any further sanctions could take the form of a "negative points allocation" for McLaren at the start of next season.

However Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone distanced himself from such talk.

"What Max said after the last World Council Meeting...was that if they (the FIA) found anything on the (McLaren) car, they could be (penalised)," he told Reuters last week.

"But they have got to have found something in there for a start and then the World Council has got to agree it."

FIA inspectors have been to the McLaren headquarters at Woking, with Mosley saying they would be looking for design ideas that could be traced to Ferrari rather than just copied components.

A McLaren spokeswoman said the team had no comment on either hearing.