Date set for McLaren appeal

Although there has yet to be official confirmation from the FIA, it seems that a date of November 15th has been set for McLaren's appeal against the decision of the stewards at Interlagos. After the Brazilian Grand Prix the temperature of the fuel in the cars of BMW Sauber and Williams apparently did not comply with regulations but the stewards took no action.

A discrepancy in the ambient temperature, as supplied by the official timing screens and by team meteorologists, meant that an accurate comparison between that and the temperature of the fuel in the cars could not be recorded. The stewards decided that it was therefore inappropriate to award any penalties to BMW and Williams.

McLaren was not satisfied with the outcome and filed a notice of appeal on the grounds that it believes there was a "non-compliance of the regulations" and that "the FIA should determine whether an irregularity occurred or not". In a statement McLaren said "we feel that the matter must be properly examined to ensure that the rules are applied."

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton finished seventh in Brazil, which was not enough to secure him the championship but if BMW and Williams were disqualified from the results he could be elevated up the order and be awarded enough points to claim the title, which was won on track by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

However, even if the aforementioned teams did get penalized in such a way, Hamilton would not automatically move up. FIA President Max Mosley has been quoted as saying that as far as the sport's governing body is concerned the current result stands and it's for the court of appeal to decide otherwise.

"For us, the world championship is over, the result is what it is," Mosley said. "A team presented an appeal; at the moment, this doesn't change anything -- it's up to them to prove they're right... But even if the cars classified ahead of Hamilton would be excluded, would this change his position? The court of appeal will have to rule on that."