McLaren still hope for fuel rules clarity

McLaren filed an appeal against the decision by the Brazilian Grand Prix's race stewards not to disqualify the BMW Sauber and Williams cars from the season finale despite a report by the FIA's technical delegate that both cars from both teams failed scrutineering due to irregularities with their fuel temperatures.

In a statement by the FIA this evening, however, the governing body said McLaren's appeal was rejected by the ICA because it was inadmissible. No additional details were released at this time.

And McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh said he hopes the full verdict will nonetheless provide the clarification his outfit were seeking to begin with.

"In the interests of rule clarification and rule consistency we lodged our appeal," Whitmarsh stated. "We have not yet seen the text of the FIA International Court of Appeal decision and hope that clarification is provided.

"It's important to stress that the FIA Stewards' inquiry at the Brazilian Grand Prix was not triggered by any action from McLaren, but by a report written and made public by the FIA Technical Delegate, which drew the FIA Stewards' attention to what we regarded as a clear regulation breach on the part of BMW-Sauber and Williams.

"Our appeal was merely a logical and procedural step in the process begun by the FIA Technical Delegate's written report.

"We hope that this fuel temperature issue does not remain unresolved in Formula One next year, but we look forward to working with the FIA and the teams on clarifying matters to avoid a similar situation occurring again."

The FIA's Court of Appeal decision also put an end to the possibility of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton being awarded the world championship, confirming Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen as the title holder.

And the rookie Briton said this was in any event the right result.

"As I have said all along, Kimi deserved to win the 2007 World Drivers' Championship, and neither I nor anyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes had any desire to take it off him in court. That was not the purpose of the team's appeal," Hamilton said.

"I am looking forward to the 2008 season and racing Kimi, and all my other rivals, on track and hopefully be able to go one better than the second place I achieved in this year's World Drivers' Championship."