22/09/2008
NEWS STORY
As part of McLaren's argument in its appeal against the 25s penalty handed to Lewis Hamilton following the Belgian GP, the team introduced a recording of Race Director Charlie Whiting saying that the English driver had - in his opinion - acted correctly, by slowing sufficiently after cutting the final chicane and handing the position back to Kimi Raikkonen. Indeed, Whiting twice told McLaren sporting director Dave Ryan that the move was OK.
This is the main point to McLaren's case, the fact that at the time the Race Director said the move was OK twice, but later, once the Race Stewards met Whiting played no part, failing to issue a report on the matter, and effectively going back on what he had previously told the Woking team.
Earlier, in respect of the fact that there is usually no right of appeal to in-race penalties such as drive-through penalties, McLaren's barrister, Mark Phillips QC, had argued that in this particular case the appeal is admissible.
Phillips argued that the appeal against the penalty handed to Tonio Liuzzi for overtaking Adrian Sutil during last year's Japanese GP set a precedent.