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Blow for Lewis Hamilton as Spa appeal is rejected
David Smith, Evening Standard23 Sep 2008
Lewis Hamilton suffered a setback in his attempts to win his first Formula One world title today when the FIA rejected his appeal against demotion at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Briton will now head into this weekend's night-race in Singapore with a slender one-point lead at the top of the driver's championship.
Hamilton had hoped to have his demotion from first to third place at Spa overturned which would have seen his lead increase to seven points over Ferrari's Felipe Massa, but the five judges have upheld the stewards' ruling.
The 23-year-old was handed a 25-second penalty after the race for an illegal overtaking manoeuvre on Kimi Raikkonen and even appeared in person in Paris yesterday for four and a half hours to argue his case.
But there was disappointment this afternoon when the FIA, the sport's governing body, ruled his appeal was 'inadmissible'.
In a statement, the FIA said: "At the Grand Prix of Belgium, run on 7 September 2008, and counting towards the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Stewards of the meeting imposed a drive-through penalty upon the driver of car No22, Lewis Hamilton, for a breach of Article 30.3 (a) of the 2008 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations and Appendix L, Chapter 4, Article 2 (g) of the International Sporting Code.
"As the drive-through penalty was imposed at the end of the race, 25 seconds were added to the driver's elapsed race time in accordance with Article 16.3 of the FIA 2008 Formula One Sporting Regulations.
"Article 152 of the International Sporting Code states that drivethrough penalties are 'not susceptible to appeal'.
"Having heard the explanations, the Court has concluded that the appeal is inadmissible."
There are now only four races left in the season, which finishes at Interlagos in Brazil, with Felipe Massa second on 77 points and BMW's Robert Kubica a further 13 behind in third place.
Reader views (5)
And so the F1 conspiracy to keep Ferrari at the top of the pile continues.
No-one else stands a chance when faced with the bias that F1 has shown for years in favour of Ferrari.
Is it any wonder the viewing figures plummeted in recent years. F! wasn't even subtle about it.
Ferrari. Ferrari. Ferrari. Boring. Boring. Boring.
- Tangomike, Kensington, London, 23/09/2008 21:17
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I hope Hamilton now apologises to Massa for taking an advantage and almost costing Massa the win.
- Tim, London, UK, 23/09/2008 19:29
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I am a Hamilton fan but if he had not cut the corner and followed Kimi around the corner, he would have had to brake like Kimi and would not have been able to overtake him soon thereafter. It was too late in the race for him to do the drive thru penalty and so 25 seconds was a fair alternative. Message to Lewis: win fair!
- Nat, New Malden, 23/09/2008 18:08
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Mosley and the poison dwarf Ecce get their way yet again. Only ferrari must be allowed to win. If formula 1 is going to continue to be run by a neo-nazi clique, then we can't hold out much hope for the sport .
- James Hennessy, london england, 23/09/2008 16:53
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I think Lewis should go ahead and race to regain his position number1 in F1 racing.I am great fan of F1 and cricket as well.
Like in bat n ball game umpires err and award decisions against great batsmen.Nothing can be done about it.
Lewis is a similar situation (it happens to all great guys)but I am sure Chmpionship points are his in spite of everything.i will bet on that.He is going to be a winner for many more years.
- T.K.Balu, chennai,india, 23/09/2008 12:40
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