There's been some unusual activity surrounding F1 sites these past few days. Yesterday, I read an article on grandprix.com relating to information that the FIA has about the impending Renault hearing. However, soon after reading the article, it had disappeared.

In the early hours of this morning pitpass.com reported a similar story, listing The Times newspaper as their source, and also making reference to the still missing grandprix.com article. Around 8am this morning, said article reappeared on grandprix.com, and as far as I can tell nothing has been changed.

Worth noting, is that the source of all these stories is a briefing memo leaked by McLaren. Here's what The Times had to say on the subject:

The leak from McLaren was being seen as an attempt by the Woking-based team to dispel the impression within the sport that the illegal transfer of technical information from McLaren to Renault is of an altogether lesser order of importance than McLaren’s possession of Ferrari secrets.

Wait a second. McLaren are leaking documents to the media in order to raise the profile of its case? Does that remind you of anything? Like Ron Dennis bemoaning the way Ferrari handled the media during the summer spy scandal. Let's remind ourselves of what Ron wrote in a public letter to Luigi Macaluso back in August:

In the period leading up to and since the WMSC hearing, McLaren's reputation has been attacked by a series of incorrect press reports from Italy and grossly misleading statements from Ferrari itself.

Reputation, attacked, press reports. It's amazing what a difference a couple of months makes isn't it?

Manipulating the media is nothing new in the world of F1, but I do wonder what prompted grandprix.com to first remove and then restore an article McLaren clearly wants the to world to hear.