McLaren to appeal Hamilton's Belgium penalty
Monday, 08 Sep 2008 09:51
Lewis Hamilton had stretched his lead to eight points in the title race before the penalty was imposed.
McLaren have confirmed their intention to appeal against the punishment handed to Lewis Hamilton that denied him victory at the Belgian grand prix on Sunday.
The British driver was handed a 25-second post-race penalty by the stewards, demoting him to third place in the standings, after being found guilty of cutting a corner at Spa.
After the team reviewed their own footage of the incident, they have confirmed an appeal will be made to the FIA's International Court of Appeal.
In a statement, McLaren said: "We have studied the details and put them before the FIA stewards.
"They show that after cutting the chicane Lewis lifted off, he was six kph slower than Kimi [Raikkonen].
"After conceding the lead to Kimi, Lewis repositioned his car on the right and beat Kimi on the brakes going into the hairpin."
Ferrari's Felipe Massa has been awarded the victory with BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld in second.
Hamilton, 23, was accused of gaining an advantage by cutting the Bus Stop chicane during a tussle with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in the final two laps.
In a dramatic finale, the Briton overtook the world champion but then spun off. Raikkonen then lost the lead to Hamilton again before the Finn crashed into a wall.
The punishment means Hamilton's lead over Brazilian Massa in the drivers' championship has been sliced to two points, rather than extended to eight - as it would have been if the original result was allowed to stand.