FIA dismisses Hamilton appeal against Belgium penalty

Sep 23, 2008, 15:14 GMT

Paris - The world motorsport body FIA on Tuesday dismissed an appeal from McLaren-Mercedes against a 25-second penalty their driver Lewis Hamilton received at the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix for cutting a chicane.

The FIA Court of Appeal said in a statement that the sanction was a drive-through penalty which is 'not susceptible to appeal' under FIA rules.

As a result, Hamilton takes a slender one-point lead over Ferrari driver Felipe Massa into the final four season races. He would have led by seven points had the appeal been successful.

The ruling came the day after a hearing of Hamilton and his team at the FIA headquarters in Paris.

Hamilton originally won the September 7 race in Spa, but officials then penalised him for what they considered gaining an unfair advantage for his overtaking manoeuvre against world champion Kimi Raikkonen late in the race.

Hamilton cut the chicane in the process. He then slowed down to give up the advantage before passing Raikkonen again in the next turn.

The penalty dropped Hamilton from first to third place - with the original second-place finisher Massa declared the race winner - and caused the British driver to lose four championship points.

FIA later clarified the rules, saying that a driver can not attempt to overtake another driver until the second turn after gaining an unfair advantage.

However, the Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal on technical grounds alone.

McLaren argued that their appeal was admissable because the actual drive-through had never taken place due to the end of the race.

But the Court of Appeal said: 'As the drive-through penalty was imposed at the end of the race, 25 seconds were added to the driver's elapsed race time in accordance with Formula One Sporting Regulations.'

Citing that 'International Sporting Code states that drive-through penalties are 'not susceptible to appeal',' the five-man court said that 'the appeal is inadmissible.'

The F1 season continues this weekend with the Singapore Grand Prix.