McLaren loses appeal
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Kimi Raikkonen can breathe a sigh of relief now |
The FIA's four-man appeals panel met in London on Thursday and then reconvened in Paris on Friday to deliberate.
McLaren had appealed a ruling of the stewards at the final race of the season at Interlagos last month, where four cars were found to have possibly been using fuel that was illegally cold.
The stewards ultimately decided in Brazil that there was "sufficient doubt as to both the temperature of the fuel on board the car and to the true ambient temperature" of the four BMW-Sauber and Williams runners.
Had the cars been excluded from the classification, and the other runners promoted up the order, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton would have been crowned champion.
The FIA Court of Appeal said in a statement on Friday: "Having heard the explanations of both parties and having examined the various documents and other evidence, the Court decided that the appeal lodged by (McLaren) is inadmissible."
The full text of the decision is not yet available, but Williams revealed in a statement that McLaren "failed to follow the correct and clearly documented protest procedure".
McLaren was nonetheless disappointed with the outcome.
"The FIA's Steward, Tony Scott Andrews, accepted McLaren's appeal when it was presented to him after the race in the Interlagos paddock, (but) the FIA International Court of Appeal has decided that the appeal was not admissible," a statement read.
"This was despite the Stewards making the official results subject to our appeal," McLaren added.
Also in media statements, Ferrari said it is "completely satisfied" with the outcome of the appeal, and Williams "welcomed the findings".
"A final and desperate attempt to change the result obtained on the track was rejected," Ferrari CEO Jean Todt said.
Williams added: "(The) team did not transgress the regulations (or) demonstrate any intent or gain any competitive advantage in relation to the management of its race fuels."
11/16/07 The FIA's International Court of Appeal has rejected McLaren's case over the fuel temperatures of the BMW and Williams cars in last month's Brazilian Grand Prix saying that the case was rejected because McLaren's appeal is inadmissible.
Therefore the results of the Brazilian GP are unchanged and Kimi Raikkonen is officially the 2007 F1 World Driving Champion.