Appeal won’t hand Hamilton world championship, says Hill

DAMON HILL has written off Lewis Hamilton’s chances of becoming Formula One world champion yesterday.

A dramatic 2007 season will finally draw to a conclusion in the London offices of one of the world’s largest law firms, Sidley Austin.

It is there a four-man Court of Appeal panel will assess McLaren’s complaint that BMW Sauber and Williams used illegal ‘cool fuel’ during the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix on October 21.

If found guilty the team’s drivers could have their race results expunged, which in turn could lead to Hamilton being promoted in the classification and so handed the title.

The 22-year-old, who finished seventh at Interlagos, has already made it clear he does not want to win the championship — one that eventually went to Kimi Raikkonen — in the courtroom.

Hamilton was forced to settle for second, a point behind the Finn, as a technical gremlin early on wrecked his race at Interlagos.

Hamilton went on to finish behind Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, who were fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, and they may yet be thrown out.

McLaren believe the stewards missed vital evidence when they made their post-race judgement on the ‘cool fuel’ situation.

Yet 1996 world champion Hill feels the result will be allowed to stand as he said: “I think it’s very, very unlikely that Lewis will be champion. We know who the 2007 world champion is.

“But I think it’s worth a shot, having a go, at least just to establish a principle.

“But I don’t think it will change anything.”

FIA president Max Mosley has already stated it is “very unlikely” Hamilton will be made champion, while F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has joked he will resign if such a scenario unfolds.

Ecclestone said: “I don’t think that the Formula One fans would like a championship to be won because the temperature of the fuel, which can’t be measured anyway, is possibly 5C (degrees centigrade) out.

“If anybody thinks that’s the best thing for Formula One, then I’d have a very serious thought about me retiring.”

Today’s legal battle is expected to start with a submission from BMW Sauber and Williams that the appeal is inadmissible in any case.

McLaren’s F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh claimed the main reason behind the appeal was to get the FIA rules clarified.

“We do all need to know how the rules and procedures will operate going forward,” Whitmarsh said.

“We ourselves lost a constructors’ championship at the International Court of Appeal in 1999 when it was, in effect, retrospectively awarded to Ferrari when the ruling of the stewards that their bargeboards were illegal was overturned. We were upset but we accepted it.”

Whitmarsh added: “I don’t want to anticipate the verdict of the FIA International Court of Appeal judges.

“Like all true devotees of motor sport, we would never like to see a drivers’ championship decided in court rather than on track.’’