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McLaren have described Thursday’s decision by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council as “balanced and fair” after the team escaped sanction for being in possession of confidential documents belonging to rivals Ferrari.

The Council agreed that the presence of the offending items in the house of McLaren’s suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan meant the International Sporting Code had been broken, but opted not to punish the team as there was no evidence they had made use of the material.

“McLaren accepts the that the FIA World Motor Sport Council had no alternative other than to find that there was a purely technical breach by reason of the possession of certain information by one individual at his home, without McLaren’s knowledge or authority,” said a team statement.

“McLaren is delighted that the World Motor Sport Council determined that this information was not used and accordingly imposed no sanction whatsoever on the team. McLaren looks forward to continuing its fight in what is the most exciting drivers’ and constructors’ world championship in many years.”

Team boss Ron Dennis added: “There is no doubt that the past 24 days have been challenging and the tremendous support we have received from our sponsor partners and the public has been much appreciated. Moving forward McLaren wants to re-affirm our long-standing commitment to honesty and integrity and re-state that we believe we have acted correctly throughout.”

Thursday’s decision means McLaren remain as leaders of both the 2007 drivers’ and constructors’ tables. “Now, we have Formula One world championships to win,” added Dennis. “As a result we intend to move on, so as to maintain the focus and commitment required to do exactly that.”