Formula 1 News

McLaren lawyer pursuing title for Lewis Hamilton 

McLaren’s lawyer in charge of the ‘cool fuel’ appeal earlier this morning, has called for Lewis Hamilton to be handed the title. “The principle is clear,” barrister Ian Mill told the WMSC judges 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, 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 motorsport we would never like to see a drivers’ championship decided in court,” Whitmarsh added.

The outcome of the hearing is expected on 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.