McLaren appeal after penalty costs Lewis Hamilton victory in F1 Belgian Grand Prix !!

Lewis Hamilton has insisted he gained “no advantage” from the manoeuvre that cost him victory in yesterday’s Formula One Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s McLaren team have lodged an appeal against the decision by race stewards to impose a 25-second penalty on the British driver, demoting him from top of the podium to third.

Hamilton had cut a chicane as he tussled with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen on the third-last lap at the Spa-Franorchamps circuit but the decision gave Raikkonen’s Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa his fifth win of the season.

“I was ahead going into that corner, so I didn’t gain an advantage from it,” Hamilton said at a news conference before the penalty was announced. “We were still able to race at the next corner and I gave him his spot back, and I think it was fair and square.”

A McLaren spokesman said that their appeal would rest on the fact that Hamilton had moved aside to allow Raikonnen to regain position before racing resumed. “Having passed the lead back to Kimi, Lewis repositioned, moving his car across and behind Kimi to the right-hand line.

“He then out-braked him into the hair-pin.”

Hamilton’s lead over Massa in the drivers’ standings now stands at two points with five races remaining as the Briton seeks his first world championship.

If McLaren’s right to appeal is accepted, the case will be heard by the Federation Internationale de L’Automobile’s International Court of Appeal at a date to be determined.

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Lewis Hamilton at 1st place, although the penalty denied him a victory lap !
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