Formula One's governing body rejected McLaren's appeal to penalize four drivers for fuel irregularities at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, letting Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen keep his world championship title.
The FIA's court of appeal ruled on Friday that the appeal was inadmissible and that it could not punish BMW and Williams, whose drivers finished fourth, fifth, sixth and 10th in Sao Paulo on Oct. 21. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton finished seventh in the race and would have taken the drivers' title if two of the three drivers who finished ahead of him had been disqualified.
"Having heard the explanations of both parties and having examined the various documents and other evidence, the Court decided that the appeal lodged by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is inadmissible," the FIA's International Court of Appeal said in a statement.
Hamilton finished second in the overall standings, one point behind Raikkonen, who won the Brazilian Grand Prix. Two-time champion Fernando Alonso was third overall, also one point behind Raikkonen but with fewer second-place finishes than Hamilton.
"Despite the fact that the FIA's steward, Tony Scott Andrews, accepted McLaren's appeal when it was presented to him after the race in the Interlagos paddock, the FIA International Court of Appeal has decided that the appeal was not admissible," the McLaren team said in a statement. "This was despite the stewards making the official results subject to our appeal."
Hamilton said in the same statement that Raikkonen is a worthy champion.
"As I have said all along, Kimi deserved to win the 2007 World Drivers Championship, and neither I nor anyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes had any desire to take it off him in court," Hamilton said. "That was not the purpose of the team's appeal. I am looking forward to the 2008 season and racing Kimi, and all my other rivals, on track and hopefully be able to go one better than the second place I achieved in this year's World Drivers Championship."
Ferrari welcomed the decision.
Both Hamilton and Alonso have said they did not want the title to be decided by a court.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
RSS