and its official.
Kimi crowned Champ after McLaren appeal is rejected
Friday 16th November 2007
Kimi Raikkonen's status as 2007 World Champion has been confirmed after the FIA Court of Appeal rejected McLaren's right to appeal the result of the Brazil GP.
Had the BMWs of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica as well as the Williams of Nico Rosberg been disqualified after allegedly using illegal fuel during the race, Lewis Hamilton would have been promoted to fourth place - a gain sufficient for him to 'win' the championship by a single point.
However, in a curious judgement, the Court of Appeal have upheld the result - and thus Raikkonen's status as champion - by concluding that 'the appeal lodged by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is inadmissible',
Confirming the judgment, a statement read: "Following a report from the technical delegate indicating the temperature of fuel pumped into the cars number nine Nick Heidfeld, number 10 Robert Kubica, number 16 Nico Rosberg and number 17 Kazuki Nakajima, was more than 10 degrees centigrade below ambient temperature, the stewards of the meeting met to consider whether a penalty should be imposed.
"Having heard the evidence they decided not to impose a penalty as they had sufficient doubt as to both the temperature of the fuel on board the car and to the true ambient temperature.
"Having heard the explanations of both parties and having examined the various documents and other evidence, the court decided that the appeal lodged by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is inadmissible."
McLaren had called into question the decision of the stewards at Interlagos not to punish Williams and BMW Sauber for apparently using 'cool fuel', so gaining a performance advantage.
Rosberg, Kubica and Heidfield finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in Brazil behind race-winner Raikkonen, with Hamilton seventh and so missing out on the title by a point from the Finn.
McLaren continually maintained in the build-up to the appeal there motive was for clarity of the regulations, and not for Hamilton to win the title in the courtroom.
However, after initially arguing whether McLaren's case was first admissible, and then the merits of their action, the team's lawyer Ian Mill QC called for disqualifcation of the three drivers and a reclassification of the championship.
That prompted Ferrari's lawyer, Nigel Tozzi QC, to brand McLaren as "naked opportunists," further suggesting they are "shameless hypocrites devoid of any integrity".
The four judges - John Cassidy from the United States, Vassilis Koussis from Greece, Jose Nacedo E Cunha from Portugal and Jan Stovicek from the Czech Republic - listened to four hours of legal argument at the hearing.
Their verdict concludes a miserable season for McLaren, notably as the team were fined ?50million and stripped of all constructors' points in the 'spygate' case.
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