Formula 1

Stewards reject McLaren protest at Belgian GP

Motorsport.com - The race stewards at the Belgian Grand Prix rejected earlier today the team McLaren protest against 17 cars for yellow flag infractions. McLaren team principal Ron Dennis lodged the protest after numerous cars, including ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

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Motorsport.com - The race stewards at the Belgian Grand Prix rejected earlier today the team McLaren protest against 17 cars for yellow flag infractions.

McLaren team principal Ron Dennis lodged the protest after numerous cars, including polesitter and Williams-BMW driver Juan Montoya, set their fastest qualifying laps in the dying minutes of the session. At issue was the fact that at that time Nick Heidfeld's Sauber lay disabled by the side of the track, and the marshals were waving yellow flags.

However, the stewards rejected the McLaren argument that the drivers had not slowed down sufficiently for the yellow flags.

"Having heard the arguments of the team manager, having looked closely into all available data and information and taking into account the rapid change of track conditions, the Stewards of the Meeting decide to reject the protest," read the official press release on the decision.

"The Stewards' conclusion is that the yellow flag regulation in Appendix H, Article 4.1.2 (b) of the 2001 FIA International Sporting Code was respected by all drivers."

As a result, all qualifying positions from the session are now official, and Montoya will start from the pole position for the second time in his career.

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