The lawyer for McLaren seeks to secure the title for Hamilton

A lawyer for McLaren called on Thursday for Lewis Hamilton to be awarded the points for a fourth-place finish, which would make the Briton the 2007 F1 world champion instead of Kimi Räikkönen.

Ian Mill claimed before the FIA International Court of Appeal that the BMW Sauber and Williams, which finished ahead of Hamilton’s car at the last Grand Prix of Brazil, should be disqualified from the event after violating the rules on the fuel temperature used during the race.

If the three drivers involved are disqualified, Hamilton could move from seventh to fourth place and earn the necessary points to reclaim the title currently held by Iceman. The latter finished the season just one point ahead of the Englishman.

« The principle is clear. If there has been a breach of the regulations that influenced a performance increase, the sanction must be absolute, » declared Mill.

The lawyer urged the four independent judges, whose judgment is expected to be published tomorrow, Friday, not to be influenced by the fact that the title might change hands.

« I ask you to approach this situation as if it were happening at any stage of the season, » he said.

« Every time there has been a recusal in the past, there has been a reassignment… All we are asking you to do is to do what normally happens. »

At the time, the race stewards determined that there were considerable discrepancies in the data.

The McLaren team was fined 100 million dollars and stripped of all their points in the constructors’ championship in September following the espionage case involving Scuderia Ferrari.

The governing body at the time decided that the drivers should keep their points due to an amnesty offered to them if they provided evidence.

Mill used this same argument against rivals McLaren.

« One might have thought that if the team was eliminated, the driver would also lose their points. But this is not the case here. The drivers were offered immunity if they helped the FIA, » concluded Mill.

The lawyers of the other teams involved have still not presented their files.