> Official McLaren appeal ruled inadmissible

The FIA International Court of Appeal met in London on Thursday, November 15, 2007, to examine an appeal lodged by the Motor Sports Association (MSA) on behalf of its licence-holder Vodafone McLaren Mercedes against the decision (document 41) of the Panel of the Stewards of the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix dated 21 October 2007 and counting towards the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Following a report from the Technical Delegate indicating that the temperature of fuel pumped into the cars N°9 - Nick Heidfeld, N°10 - Robert Kubica, N°16 - Nico Rosberg and N°17 - Kazuki Nakajima, was more than 10 degrees centigrade below ambient temperature, the Stewards of the Meeting met to consider whether a penalty should be imposed. Having heard the evidence they decided not to impose a penalty as they had sufficient doubt as to both the temperature of the fuel on board the car and to the true ambient temperature.

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 International Court of Appeal was presided over by Mr Jan Stovicek (Czech Republic), elected President, and composed of Mr John Cassidy (United States), Mr Vassilis Koussis (Greece) and Mr José Macedo e Cunha (Portugal).

The full text of the International Court of Appeal’s decision is available, on request, from the secretariat of the FIA International Court of Appeal in Paris.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro is completely satisfied with today's decision of the International Court of Appeal which confirms the result of the Brazilian Grand Prix, as a consequence of which Kimi Raikkonen won the Formula 1 Drivers' World Championship.

"The decision of the ICA finally brings to an end a very intense season, both on and off the track," declared Jean Todt, Ferrari CEO. "Today, a final and desperate attempt to change the result obtained on the track was rejected. Now, all our efforts are focused on preparing for next season."

The FIA International Court of Appeal today rejected as inadmissible Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' appeal against the FIA Stewards' decision in respect of fuel irregularities at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix.

As was made very clear prior to the appeal, the team was seeking to clarify the regulatory uncertainty that has arisen from a decision of the FIA Stewards at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix. After the race, both Williams cars and both BMW-Sauber cars had been found by the FIA Technical Delegate, to have used fuel that had been chilled by more than the accepted margin of 10 degrees Centigrade below the ambient temperature. Despite the FIA Technical Delegate's findings, the FIA Stewards decided that it was inappropriate to impose a penalty on the Williams and BMW-Sauber cars owing to "sufficient doubt as to both temperature of fuel on board the car and also as to the true ambient temperature."

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. This was despite the Stewards making the official results subject to our appeal.

Martin Whitmarsh: "In the interests of rule clarification and rule consistency we lodged our appeal. We have not yet seen the text of the FIA International Court of Appeal decision and hope that clarification is provided. It's important to stress that the FIA Stewards' inquiry at the Brazilian Grand Prix was not triggered by any action from McLaren, but by a report written and made public by the FIA Technical Delegate, which drew the FIA Stewards' attention to what we regarded as a clear regulation breach on the part of BMW-Sauber and Williams. Our appeal was merely a logical and procedural step in the process begun by the FIA Technical Delegate's written report. We hope that this fuel temperature issue does not remain unresolved in Formula 1 next year but we look forward to working with the FIA and the teams on clarifying matters to avoid a similar situation occurring again."

Lewis Hamilton: "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. 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."