McLaren launch appeal against Hamilton punishment
Lewis Hamilton saw victory snatched away from him in Belgium
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Tuesday, 09, Sep 2008 08:35
McLaren have lodged an appeal into the 25 second penalty against Lewis Hamilton which led to him being stripped of victory at the Belgium Grand Prix.
The world drivers' championship leader won the Belgium Grand Prix in Spa, but was then demoted to third at the end of the race for cutting a chicane in his attempts to pass Kimi Raikkonen. McLaren have appealed on the basis that Hamilton immediately gave the lead back to Raikkonen once he knew what he had done.
"Having passed the lead back to Kimi, Lewis repositioned, moving his car across and behind Kimi to the right-hand line," a McLaren spokesman said after the race. "He then outbraked him into the hairpin.
"We looked at all our data and also made it available to the FIA stewards. It showed that, having lifted [off the accelerator], Lewis was 6kph slower than Kimi as they crossed the start-finish line.
"Based on this data, we have no option other than to register our intention to appeal. We are a racing team and we will now focus on Monza (the Italian Grand Prix next Sunday), with a view to extending our lead in the drivers' world championship."
The FIA's International Court of Appeal will have to decide if McLaren have grounds to make an appeal as it is unclear if teams are allowed to make appeals against a time penalty.