Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes

The verdict is out, the penalty stands, Hamilton still leads the championship, but still only by a point. I have been expecting no other result but my feelings about the whole issue are rather mixed. On one hand I do agree with the actual penalty. But the way FIA swept the appeal off the table raises fresh questions about the integrity of the body that among other things also rules Formula 1.

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2008 Belgian GP - The podium

As many predicted, FIA rejected McLaren’s appeal against Lewis Hamilton’s 25 sec penalty for the chicane cutting back in Spa. The FIA’s reasoning - drive-through penalties could not be appealed:

“Article 152 of the International Sporting Code states that drive-through penalties are ‘not susceptible to appeal. 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.”

That means the result of Belgian GP remains unchanged. Felipe Massa keeps the win and Nick Heidfeld the 2nd place they inherited following Hamilton’s penalty. That also means that the gap between Championship leader Hamilton and 2nd Massa remains 1 point.

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Full text of the FIA decision inside this post:

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2008 Belgian GP - Podium

The penalty imposed on Bruno Senna during the Belgian GP2 race renewed the debate about pro-Ferrari bias from FIA. No, Bruno Senna is not yet racing against Ferrari. But he received drive through penalty for almost an identical “offence” that brought Felipe Massa under investigation in Valencia - dangerous relase from the pits. Felipe Massa however received only reprimand and the team fine, no other penalty that would have some effect on the race result. (See video of Senna’s incident inside this post). Few could have expected that few hours later after the Belgian Formula 1 race the debates will heat up even more following a decision that went against Lewis Hamilton and for Ferrari. The irony is that the main beneficiary, Felipe Massa, was not even involved in that incident …

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Felipe Massa, 2008 Belgian GP

So, we finally had a race that went to the wire. It actually went even further and the final result was amended about 2 hours after the race with 25 second penalties to Timo Glock (overtaking Webber under yellow flags) and the controversial one to Lewis Hamilton for cutting the chicane. The debate on that Hamilton’s penalty has already begun below another article. I wil focus this review more on the race action itself and later today post my take on the whole controversy.

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2008 Belgian F1 GP - Podium

Lewis Hamilton was handed 25 secs penalty for cutting the chicane in the wheel to wheel fight with Kimi Raikkonen in dying stages of Belgian GP. This move, following Massa’s no penalty in Valencia, will no doubt spark new hot debates about the stewards’ decision making.

The penalty means Felipe Massa was handed the race win, Nick Heidfeld moved up to 2nd, Lewis Hamilton dropped to 3rd. Only 2 points now separate Hamilton and Massa …

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FIA cinfirmed McLaren have lodged an appeal against Hamilton’s penalty that demoted him to third place in the Belgian Grand Prix.

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2008 Belgian F1 GP - Podium

Kimi Raikkonen lead most of the race but the rain in the closing stages changed the fortunes for several drivers. After some wheel to wheel racing Lewis Hamilton took the win, Raikkonen crashed out and Felipe Massa collected 8 points for 2nd place. The incident between Raikkonen and Hamilton is however still under investigation… The gamble on intermediate tyres paid off for Nick Heidfeld who took the final podium place. Great result for Fernando Alonso in 4th (although it for a while looked like he and the team threw it away with the last minute tyre change) and another strong result for Toro Rosso. Both Bourdais and Vettel were in 3rd place for a while on the last lap but at the end the wet tyre gamblers Heidfeld and Alonso prevailed… Timo Glock overtook Mark Webber for the final point on the last lap. He however did so under yellow flags. He was hit with 25s penalty and and Mark Webber took that last point from this race.

It is fair to say this race is a candidate for the race of the season. Full race report to follow tomorrow.

2008 Belgian F1 GP result: (provisional)

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Join the Live Blog debate following the 2008 Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

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Lewis Hamilton Spa 2008

Lewis Hamilton will start the Belgian GP from pole position. Next to him on P2 will be Felipe Massa. Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen will form all Finnish row 2. The qualifying times suggest that Raikkonen and Kovalainen carry quite a bit more fuel than their team mates on the front row.

Nick Heidfeld handled the increasing pressure well this time and secured the best of the rest position - P5, ahead of Alonso, Webber, Kubica, Bourdais and Vettel. For the second race in a row both Toro Rosso cars made it to Q3 and look to be quite heavily fueled for the race.

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Join us for Live Blog debate following the qualifying session of 2008 Belgian F1 GP.

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Welcome to the Live Blog debate covering the 2008 Belgian GP - Saturday Practice !

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