Dennis Considering Appeal of Schumacher Victory
McLaren team boss Ron Dennis claimed Kimi Raikkonen was the moral victor of the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours and refused to confirm whether he will appeal against Michael Schumacher's win.
McLaren team boss Ron Dennis claimed Kimi Raikkonen was the moral victor of the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours and refused to confirm whether he will appeal against Michael Schumacher's win.
Schumacher overtook Raikkonen for the lead when the McLaren driver ran wide at the Adelaide hairpin with five laps to go as yellow flags were waved after Allan McNish had spun his Toyota.
Dennis insisted that Raikkonen deserved his first Grand Prix victory but would not be drawn on whether McLaren will appeal against Schumacher's move if race stewards do not deem it as illegal.
"I think it is clear he overtook under a yellow but I don't know," Dennis said when asked if he will protest the result. "I'll have to look at the rule book. I think it is relevant that he [Raikkonen] went off the road, it is a question of when there was a green flag. I think that is the regulations.
"He did overtake under a yellow when Kimi went wide. It is really up to the stewards to decide. I know who morally won the race. I'm disappointed for Kimi, it would have been his first well-deserved race win."
But Raikkonen said in the post-race press conference that he felt it was his mistake and expressed his disappointment at missing out on his first race win.
"This is the most disappointing race of my life," said Raikkonen. "It was my fault - the team worked hard and we could have won here."
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