From GMM
Stewards gave Lewis Hamilton a 25 seconds penalty Sunday after the Belgian grand prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
Those 25 seconds were retrospectively added to the British championship leader's finishing time, meaning his victory at the chequered flag now becomes third place, behind the Ferrari and also BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.
The amended result also means 23-year-old Hamilton's lead in the drivers' standings is reduced from a potential 8 to just 2 points with five races to go in 2008.
Stewards deemed Hamilton did not properly allow Kimi Raikkonen to re-pass after overtaking the Ferrari driver by cutting the Bus Stop chicane with 3 laps to go.
Hamilton did let the Finn pass him after the chicane, but he then used the slipstream of the Ferrari to immediately launch a successful overtaking move at the next corner.
The penalty, would have been a drive-through had the incident notoccurred so close to the end of the 44-lap race.
UPDATE
McLaren has informed the stewards at Spa-Francorchamps of their intention to appeal the decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of victory at the Belgian grand prix, the FIA confirmed on Saturday evening.
The official news means the result will now remain provisional until a hearing of the International Court of Appeal.
Ferrari, meanwhile, clarified that while team officials did attend the stewards' investigation, no official protest was lodged.
Lewis Hamilton on Sunday said stewards are "absolutely wrong" to strip him of his Belgian grand prix victory at Spa-Francorchamps.
The McLaren driver answered "absolutely not" when asked if he felt he did anything wrong with 2 laps to go.
"I left him enough room, yet he picked up more pace going into the corner, and drove me as wide as he possibly could," said Hamilton, referring to the moment before he cut the Bus Stop chicane.
The championship leader said he had to cut the chicane or hit Raikkonen. He said he then obeyed a radio command to let the Finn re-pass him.
The stewards penalised Hamilton because he used the momentum of exiting the chicane escape-road to slipstream the Ferrari and overtake him at La Source.
Hamilton explained: "I was accelerating so that I didn't lose too much ground because I thought that would be unfair.
"I didn't want to wait until he'd flown past because we were still racing. Eventually I could see him accelerating and I knew, ok, this is alright, so I began to accelerate, but slowly. I don't believe I was full throttle, I was waiting for him to accelerate past which he did.
"That was a great fight and I don't think there was anything wrong there. What more could I do? I don't know what more I could have done," Hamilton said.
Stewards gave Lewis Hamilton a 25 seconds penalty Sunday after the Belgian grand prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
Those 25 seconds were retrospectively added to the British championship leader's finishing time, meaning his victory at the chequered flag now becomes third place, behind the Ferrari and also BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.
The amended result also means 23-year-old Hamilton's lead in the drivers' standings is reduced from a potential 8 to just 2 points with five races to go in 2008.
Stewards deemed Hamilton did not properly allow Kimi Raikkonen to re-pass after overtaking the Ferrari driver by cutting the Bus Stop chicane with 3 laps to go.
Hamilton did let the Finn pass him after the chicane, but he then used the slipstream of the Ferrari to immediately launch a successful overtaking move at the next corner.
The penalty, would have been a drive-through had the incident notoccurred so close to the end of the 44-lap race.
UPDATE
McLaren has informed the stewards at Spa-Francorchamps of their intention to appeal the decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of victory at the Belgian grand prix, the FIA confirmed on Saturday evening.
The official news means the result will now remain provisional until a hearing of the International Court of Appeal.
Ferrari, meanwhile, clarified that while team officials did attend the stewards' investigation, no official protest was lodged.
Lewis Hamilton on Sunday said stewards are "absolutely wrong" to strip him of his Belgian grand prix victory at Spa-Francorchamps.
The McLaren driver answered "absolutely not" when asked if he felt he did anything wrong with 2 laps to go.
"I left him enough room, yet he picked up more pace going into the corner, and drove me as wide as he possibly could," said Hamilton, referring to the moment before he cut the Bus Stop chicane.
The championship leader said he had to cut the chicane or hit Raikkonen. He said he then obeyed a radio command to let the Finn re-pass him.
The stewards penalised Hamilton because he used the momentum of exiting the chicane escape-road to slipstream the Ferrari and overtake him at La Source.
Hamilton explained: "I was accelerating so that I didn't lose too much ground because I thought that would be unfair.
"I didn't want to wait until he'd flown past because we were still racing. Eventually I could see him accelerating and I knew, ok, this is alright, so I began to accelerate, but slowly. I don't believe I was full throttle, I was waiting for him to accelerate past which he did.
"That was a great fight and I don't think there was anything wrong there. What more could I do? I don't know what more I could have done," Hamilton said.