McLaren to appeal points penalty

McLAREN will appeal against the points penalty handed down in the wake of the storm which erupted during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

McLaren have lodged their protest to the FIA via the Motor Sports Association, the governing body for the UK.

Although Lewis Hamilton won the race and Fernando Alonso finished fourth at the Hungaroring, the 15 points were not added to their constructors’ championship tally.

The controversy kicked off towards the end of the final 15-minute qualifying period on Saturday when Alonso was held in his pit box for an additional 20 seconds by the team after taking on new tyres.

The reigning world champion then remained stationary for a further 10 seconds, despite the lollipop lifting allowing him to exit.

Hamilton was left queueing behind Alonso and was ultimately denied the opportunity of a final lap as the Spaniard went on to claim pole.

The incident was later investigated by race stewards and, following a lengthy meeting, the explanations of McLaren and Alonso were rejected.

The stewards deemed Hamilton had been “unnecessarily impeded” and so demoted Alonso from pole to sixth on the grid, while stating McLaren would not receive any constructors’ points from the race. The matter is now in the hands of the FIA, motor sport’s world governing body, who will determine a date for the International Court of Appeal (ICA) hearing.

McLaren already face the ICA on September 13 in Paris in relation to the ‘spy’ saga after pressure was brought to bear on FIA president Max Mosley. The Woking-based team were found guilty of ‘fraudulent conduct’ for possessing 780 pages of technical information belonging to Ferrari.

However, there was no penalty due to “insufficient evidence” that McLaren had used the information to their benefit.