The FIA has rejected the appeal made by the McLaren team against the 25-second penalty that was imposed on Lewis Hamilton after the Belgian Grand Prix.
Despite winning the race, and celebrating victory on the podium, Hamilton was later stripped of victory after he was judged to have cut a chicane during a last-minute dice with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who crashed before the end of the race.
The 25-second penalty relegated him to third place - and promoted Ferrari's Felipe Massa, his main title rival, to first place.
McLaren appealed the penalty on the grounds that Hamilton had gained no advantage from cutting the chicane, but the FIA refused to recognise the appeal.
According to the FIA's court of appeal, "drive-through penalties are not susceptible to appeal... Having heard the explanations of the parties the Court has concluded that the appeal is inadmissible."
The announcement means that Hamilton is just one Championship point ahead of Massa, with four races to go.
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Re: FIA rejects Hamilton appeal
Hi,
Actually I don't support Ferrari at all, the rot started with Ferrari for me years ago when they were found cheating using qualifying engines that were illegal and hence too powerful. Anyone remember? I'm a massive fan of Lewis, and (namedropping git I know) remeber having a chat with him when he came to my local after a test day at Jonathan Palmer's years ago. I think he was staying with Eve Wheeler who lives in the village.
So I may be a Ferrari driver and owner, but I don't like the F1 team (that's an opinion and as worthless as anyone else's) and I'm a huge supporter of all things motorsport and British, be it Hamilton, Franchitti, McCrae, or anyone else.
Re: FIA rejects Hamilton appeal
Schumacher had all his points for that season deducted, which was a meaningless penalty. He had already lost the title to Villeneuve and we all know that second place was nothing to old slanty-jaws. If the FIA had been serious about punishing him, they would have banned him for a few races the next season, which would have hurt. But Ferrari wouldn't have liked that, would they? I wonder what the FIA would have done if he had succeeded in taking Villeneuve out of the race?
I read somewhere that something like 75% of F1 fans around the world are Ferrari supporters - so the FIA won't do anything to upset them too much.
The real inconsistency here is the fine but no stop and go penalty for Massa in Valencia. He should have been given a stop & go penalty for his pit lane misdemeanour, surely?
Re: FIA rejects Hamilton appeal
I take it by that statement you support foreigners over your fellow countryman? Ferrari or one of the others?