I'd hate to win it in court says Lewis, fearing title would be tainted

The British driver, who missed out on a fairytale title by a single point in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix, has the faintest chance of snatching the crown after McLaren launched an appeal. They are planning to contest the legality of the three cars immediately in front of Hamilton.

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If successful, he could be propelled up to fourth place, giving him enough points to pip Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to the championship.

But Hamilton said: 'It would be wrong. For me, I want to win it on the track. You want to do it in style. You want to win the race. You want to win battling it out for the lead in the race. Being promoted after some people have been thrown out is not the way I want to do it.

'It would feel weird after Kimi did such a fantastic job in the last two races. He won yesterday and to have it taken away is a bit cruel and probably not good for the sport.'

The three drivers under suspicion are Williams' Nico Rosberg and BMW pair Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld. Their teams are accused of gaining an advantage by filling their cars with illegally cool fuel.

The race stewards ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove the case and the dispute is now due to go before a court of the ruling FIA in Paris within the next fortnight. McLaren have seven days to withdraw the appeal.

McLaren's chief operating officer, Martin Whitmarsh, who will head the team's campaign, said: 'We are surprised at, and don't really understand, the stewards' decision. Therefore, we feel that if we hadn't lodged our intention of appeal we would have been criticised by fans and F1 insiders alike for not supporting our drivers' best interests.

'I want to stress that our quarrel, if you can call it that, is not with Ferrari or Kimi Raikkonen. On the contrary, Kimi won the race fair and square. Our argument is with the stewards' decision.'

Indeed, the top steward, Tony Scott Andrews, is believed to have been at odds with their majority findings. Yesterday, he merely said: 'I am one of the stewards, so I have got to be happy with it.'

While Hamilton nursed a post-race hangover, McLaren were preparing a legal case against his teammate Fernando Alonso in an attempt to force the former double world champion out for breach of contract.

The Spaniard's position has grown untenable after bitter infighting. However, with Alonso only one season through a three-year deal worth about £12million annually, there are financial issues to be resolved.

McLaren are, therefore, trying to prove that Alonso's constant sniping at the team, particularly 'blackmailing' his team over Spygate, contravenes the terms of his employment and means he must immediately walk away with nothing.

Alonso continued his attack on Monday, saying: 'McLaren got it wrong. They lost the championship for mistaken decisions in the second part of the season.'

He was, for once, however, in agreement with Hamilton, saying: 'Whoever gets the most points is the rightful champion, in this case Kimi. It would sink the sport if Lewis won the title this way.'