A McLaren lawyer has called on the FIA to disqualify BMW Sauber and Williams from the Brazilian GP - potentially handing the title to Lewis Hamilton.
Verdict expected on Friday in so-called 'cool fuel' case
A lawyer for McLaren-Mercedes has called on the FIA to disqualify BMW Sauber and Williams from the Brazilian Grand Prix results, thereby potentially handing the world title to Lewis Hamilton.
Speaking during Thursday's Court of Appeal hearing, which could decide the outcome of the 2007 drivers' championship, barrister Ian Mill told a panel of four judges that both BMW Sauber and Williams should be disqualified from the race.
The move appears to contradict the opinions of senior McLaren figures - including Hamilton himself - who have already said that they want to win the title on the track rather than in a courtroom.
With Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen having already taken the title on the track, the team's QC later contrasted such sentiments with McLaren's courtroom stance, labelling them as "shameless hypocrites devoid of any integrity".
BMW Sauber and Williams were found to have run their cars during the season-ending Interlagos race with fuel at a temperature lower than that allowed by Formula One's regulations.
However, no action was taken at the time as the race stewards felt there was sufficient doubt in the temperature readings taken to penalise the teams.
Mill, however, believes both BMW-Sauber and Williams should be excluded from the race results.
"The principle is clear," Mill said during the hearing. "If there was a breach, it was performance-enhancing. The sanction, I'm afraid, has to be disqualification."
Should that happen it would move Hamilton up the order from seventh to fourth, therefore potentially giving the McLaren driver enough points to take the title away Raikkonen.
Decision
In arriving at a decision, Mill also urged the judges to overlook the fact that the destination of the world title might rest on their ruling.
"I ask you to address this as though it was any team at any stage of the season," he said.
"It cannot make a difference it was the last race of the season, and that it will decide the championship.
"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."
Although Friday's verdict could see both teams disqualified, the FIA does not necessarily have to reclassify Hamilton further up the finishing order.
Nevertheless, Mill pointed to 26 instances in Formula One history where there had been disqualifications and a championship reclassification.
Explaining why he believes Williams and BMW Sauber's drivers should be stripped of their points, Mill referred to McLaren's recent Court of Appeal hearing into the so-called 'Stepneygate' spy scandal.
After being found guilty of possessing confidential information belonging to Ferrari, McLaren were excluded from the constructors' championship and fined $100 million.
However, because they were offered an amnesty for coming forward with information, neither Hamilton nor then team-mate Fernando Alonso lost any points.
The FIA's rationale for letting Hamilton and Alonso fight for the drivers' title subsequently came under scrutiny, with Mill citing the very same argument as a reason for excluding Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, Nick Heidfeld and Kazuki Nakajima - who finished fourth, fifth, sixth and 10th respectively - from the Brazilian race.
"The driver may be entirely innocent...but he has the benefit of the infringing car," he said.
"It must be right that if the team is disqualified, the driver loses the points as well. In the other case, the drivers were offered immunity if they assisted the FIA."
Clarification
McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh said on Wednesday that the team were in fact appealing to seek clarification of rules governing fuel temperatures.
But, representing the interests of Ferrari and Raikkonen, Nigel Tozzi QC said: "This is not the way a Formula One world championship should be won.
"Mr Hamilton himself, potentially the only beneficiary, has said very clearly he does not want to win the championship this way.
"Mr Norbert Haug, head of Mercedes motorsport, has again gone on the record and said McLaren are not appealing in order to claim the championship.
"Mr Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren F1 CEO) in an interview yesterday said 'finding a way to award the world drivers' championship to Lewis retrospectively, is not at all what this is about'.
"It could be said McLaren are shameless hypocrites devoid of any integrity, or maybe what their representatives have said should be taken at face value.
"If what they want is clarity, then by all means let them have that, but do not allow them to have the world championship this way."
