Stewart team accepts verdict

Stewart would have been virtually assured of fourth in the constructors' standings had the disqualifications stood. With Irvine and Schumacher removed from the results, Johnny Herbert and Rubens Barrichello had been temporarily elevated to second and third in the race, giving their Stewart team an eight-point advantage over Williams in the battle for fourth. That gap is now back to just three points.

'Before we arrived in Paris, we were under the impression that this was a clear-cut case of a breach of the FIA technical regulations by Ferrari,' said Paul Stewart.

'Fresh evidence was presented at the hearing by the FIA which acknowledged that the level of infringement was in fact half of the original measurement taken by the FIA Technical Delegate at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

'Based on the fact that 5mm is the accepted level of tolerance applied to that particular measurement under FIA regulations, and the court was satisfied that no infringement had occurred, we accept the court's decision to uphold Ferrari's appeal.'