'This is the worst judgment'

2008-09-08 13:11

Belgium - Former Ferrari star and three-times drivers world champion Niki Lauda on Monday described the stewards' decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of his Belgian Grand Prix win as "the worst in history'.

The respected paddock figure and television expert slammed the sport's ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA), and described the decision as "a perverted judgement."

Briton Hamilton won Sunday's Belgian race in exhilarating style after a thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle with defending drivers world champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.

But he was retrospectively relegated to third in the adjusted result for allegedly gaining an advantage by cutting out the Bus Stop chicane during his duel with Raikkonen in teeming rain in the closing laps.

A stewards decision after the race gave him a 25-seconds penalty for the incident, the equivalent of a drive-through penalty in the race.

It handed victory to Brazilian Felipe Massa of Ferrari who had struggled home second after his team-mate Raikkonen had spun off and crashed with one lap remaining.

'Perverted judgment'

The decision stunned the paddock and provoked hostile criticism of the sport's ruling body and their stewards, many suggesting that it had brought Formula One into disrepute and destroyed faith in the sport.

Austrian Lauda said: "This is the worst judgment in the history of F1. The most perverted judgment I have ever seen. It's absolutely unacceptable when three functionaries (the stewards) influence the championship like this."

The decision was the fifth time this year that Hamilton had been penalised at a Grand Prix and came a year after his McLaren team were hit with a $100m fine for allegedly spying on Ferrari.

The team said they had lodged notice to appeal against the decision, but had no further comment to make save that they intended to focus entirely on winning the next race, the Italian Grand Prix, at Monza on Sunday.

Team chief Ron Dennis said: "That was a sensational Grand Prix, which kept everyone on the edge of their seats, whoever they were supporting. On the second lap, Lewis made a rare mistake, dropping him to second place behind Kimi Raikkonen, who he put under considerable pressure thereafter.

"But our car is slightly superior to that of our opposition in slippery conditions, so when the rain came we were reasonably confident that Lewis would be able to press home his advantage.

"He duly took the lead, finished first on the track, but then received a 25-seconds time penalty. After the race, we registered our intention to appeal it."

He added: "We are now focussed on going to the next race in Italy to win."

- AFP