McLaren lawyer seeks Hamilton title at appeal
The governing body of formula one, the FIA, has been hearing the case from both sides today following an appeal by McLaren after the Brazilian grand prix last month.
Both the BMW and Williams teams were found to have fuel temperatures below the required levels after their cars finished the final race of the 2007 F1 season.
The decision over whether or not to strip the points from the teams and drivers in that race and promote those who placed further down the classification can have a significant impact on the final drivers' world championship standings.
11/15/07 (GMM) The lead lawyer representing McLaren at the 'cool fuel' appeal on Thursday morning has called for Lewis Hamilton to be handed the title.
"The principle is clear," barrister Ian Mill told the four-judge panel in London.
"If there was a breach, it was performance-enhancing. The sanction, I'm afraid, has to be disqualification.
"I ask you to address this as though it was any team at any stage of the season," he added.
"Whenever in the past there has been a disqualification, there has been a re-classification. All we ask you to do is what normally happens.
"It must be right that if the team is disqualified, the driver loses the points as well."
Mill's argument was contrary to McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh's comments on Thursday, when he said appealing the outcome of the championship-deciding Brazilian grand prix was not a desperate attempt to take away Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen's title.
"Victory for us would be a clarification of the rationale behind the FIA stewards' decision," he had said.
"Like all true devotees of motor sport we would never like to see a drivers' championship decided in court," Whitmarsh added.
The outcome of the hearing is not expected to be known until Friday.
A spokeswoman for F1's governing body confirmed reports that, although the multi-national panel began hearing the case early today, the result is unlikely to be published until Friday.
Present at Sidley Austin LLP, a London law firm – an alternate venue chosen by the FIA at short notice due to the Paris transit strikes – were representatives not only of McLaren, BMW and Williams, but also Ferrari.