Belgian race control 'gave Hamilton all-clear'
Lewis Hamilton's controversial pass on Kimi Raikkonen cost him the win
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Wednesday, 10, Sep 2008 11:17
McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh has claimed that race control stewards at the Belgian grand prix gave Lewis Hamilton permission to continue racing after his controversial pass on Kimi Raikkonen.
The British driver was stripped of his victory at Spa-Francorchamps after being slapped with a retrospective 25-second penalty, which handed victory to world championship rival Felipe Massa and relegated Hamilton to third.
The McLaren man was adjudged to have gained an advantage over Massa's Ferrari team-mate when he cut across a chicane to take the lead of the grand prix two laps before the end.
Hamilton slowed slightly to allow Raikkonen to re-pass him, before taking back the position on the track as he attacked down the inside of the next corner.
It later emerged that the stewards did not view Hamilton's brief secession of the lead as completely in keeping with the rules because he had not backed off enough, leading to the punishment imposed after the race.
But in an interesting development, the Woking-based team have claimed that they were initially told by race control after Hamilton allowed Raikkonen to pass him that it was 'okay' to continue racing.
"From the pit wall, we asked race control to confirm that they were comfortable that Lewis had allowed Kimi to re-pass, and they confirmed twice that they believed the position had been given back in a manner that was 'OK'," Whitmarsh explained.
"If race control had instead expressed any concern regarding Lewis' actions at that time, we would have instructed Lewis to allow Kimi to re-pass for a second time."
McLaren have lodged an appeal with the FIA for the retrospective 25-second punishment to be revoked and a decision is expected at some point this week, before the Italian grand prix weekend begins on Friday.