FIA Rejects McLaren's Appeal

The FIA has rejected Mclaren's appeal against the penalty imposed on Hamilton at the Belgian GP.

This means that Hamilton will only lead the championship by one point into the next race with four races to go.

Surprise? I wasn't. This isn't the first time that the FIA has given such an absurd decision towards the McLaren team. I'm sure the decision would be different if it was a Ferrari who was involved in the penalty.

The FIA said, drive-through penalties could not be appealed.
"Article 152 of the International Sporting Code states that drive-through penalties are 'not susceptible to appeal'," a statement from the FIA's Court of Appeal said on Tuesday.
"The competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes appealed the Steward's decision before the International Court of Appeal in a hearing in Paris on September 22nd.
"Having heard the explanations of the parties the Court has concluded that the appeal is inadmissible."

Hamilton said after the judgement, "People will probably expect me to be depressed about today's result, but that isn't me,"

"All I want to do now is put this matter behind me and get on with what we drivers do best: racing each other."

"We're racers, we're naturally competitive, and we love to overtake. Overtaking is difficult, and it feels great when you manage to pull off a great passing manoeuvre. If it pleases the spectators and TV viewers, it's better still."
"So I'm disappointed, yes, but not depressed."

The next race will be in Singapore and it will the first night street race.