Hamilton poised to learn Belgian GP verdict.

Well i hope mclaren win the appeal especially after the fia has had to clarify the rules to all the drivers this in itself indicates that the rules are not transparent on the matter. Interesting that "ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo would not be drawn on the possible outcome of the hearing when questioned by journalists recently, other than to say that, in his opinion, 'rules should be respected'". Funny that sounds like kimi's statement, it's a pity ferrari dont agree with that statement when they are on the recieving end of a situation i.e. schumi's past is littered with fia awards in ferrari favour or turning a blind eye to benefit ferrari.

Is it possible to run a Poll on the front page to figure this out with a decent number of people.

I think its ridiculous myself, the incident did not affect the outcome of the race. Had Kimi finished the race, there may have been a small reason to debate this, but unclear rules and the fact that race control said the move was OK, should have this kicked out.

Let the racing be done on the track and not in the bloody courts like happens all too often in this so-called sport. It should get renamed to the "Formula One Strategy and Tyre Changing Championship" A lot of the racing has gone, and this is evident having long ago converted ot watching MotoGP, WSBK and the highlight of them all, WSS

Although i hope that Mclaren win this appeal, for the benefit of the sport, but this,in my opinion, is a futile exercise, as Mr Mosley & the FIA have decided the result of this appeal already and are just going through the motions to try and placate the 1000s of F1 fans around the globe who are outraged at the decision by part-time stewards spoiling one of the most exciting races for many-a-year, and seemmingly, rightly or wrongly, favouring one team over the others and trying to steer the WDC & manufacturers title to a favoured team.

I do hope that the FIA & Mr Mosley have the wings clipped on this one, but i'm not holding my breath

I hope Mclaren get their points back as the punishment was so unjustified and the incident that happened to lewis has happend to many other drivers in the past over years and nothing was ever done all got away with it.
Also now the FIA has altered that rule! So how can they punish lewis or any other driver for an incident like that when they themselves were not clear over the rule which is why they have had to alter it.
Kick out the FIA and get permanant stewards that go to all the races

According to me, Hamilton should be awarded with the race win sraight away. No question about that. This should be done not because of the points lead that hamilton might get, but simply considering the battle, intensity and pride at atake.

If i was Hamilton i would say - I need the race win considering what i did that day in that atmosphere and conditions. I held it till the end. I deserve the win. I deserve the glory.

Out of curiosity, if a similar move between, say, Fisichella and Barrichello happened further down the field and it wasn't picked up by the cameras, would it be penalised as well?

Ferrari insist they didn't complain, so this is based on what gets coverage on television so that they can study it. If no-one sees it, then the punishment doesn't occur. Seems a bit unfair that they have time to rewind over and over again before making a decision when I doubt a similar ruling would have been made in a different circumstance.

It wouldn't be so bad if Hamilton was dropped behind Raikkonen, but to place him behind Massa and Heidfeld means the punishment certainly didn't fit the crime.

i d imagine they have footage of everyone all around the track, regardless of what s actually on the live signal ...

I will only have faith in the Lewis Hamilton appeal case if it is being conducted by anyone other than the FIA,the predictable outcome is,Hamilton guilty,-more penalties given to him for having the temerity to complain,or, Hamiton have his win re-instated, then fixing the championship result in favour of Ferrari, he is, as usual in a no-win situation. Fi motor racing(I nearly wrote sport there!) is open to anyone, as long as Ferrari are allowed to win, and be given the benefit of the doubt in any dubious, and dodgy conduct, on and off the track.

The hearing will not happen as drive-through penalties are not open to appeal.

Boo, i completly agree with you.

Before Lewis overtook kimi like the way he did at SPA >> i m sure this was happening since beginning of F1 and it was never noticed ir maybe the stewards had something more important.

This is not about the points, this is about wheather they have the right to appeal. As you cannot appeal a drive through penalty will Mclaren have the right to appeal against it?
If they win this then it goes to another hearing.
I think LH gave back the lead, then Kimmi braked early letting LH to outbrake him.
I also think that Mclaren haven't a hope in getting the win back. Only when the FIA has a properly elected board would i trust them.

Mclaren appeal gets go ahead from the fia:

www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/70772

Well it looks like Mclaren have won the right to have the appeal heard - on the basis that it wasn't a drive-through but a time penalty, and Liuzzi had a similar appeal heard last year after Japan.

McL will lose the appeal and be hit with a hefty fine and possibly a team penalty of some sort for calling the intergrity !!! of the FIA stewards into question, but I'm sure one thing they won't do is to penalise LH anymore because that would throw even more onto the burning fires of a Ferrari bias IMO

Will LH and McLaren get a fair hearing when the Ferrari International Assistance who cannot even spell FAIR unless it starts with Ferrari I do give LH much of a chance.

So go on Lewis beat the lying biased ******** at there own game and do it on the track.
Also have a word with your team as they are having great difficulty getting the tyre choice right. Overcome little Hitler and his mate that Fascist Mosely. We all know you are BLACK so be proud of it after all Jesse Owens did it to hitler at the 1936 Olympics so repeat the performance.

Again the same story you guys never give up. FIA does not favour Ferrari. Every time McLaren is penalized you come with the same old story of Ferrari favouritism. Please awake up and smell the flowers. It does not matter if Hamilton succeeds in his appeal or he looses. People should accept the verdict and keep quite....

All this penalty did was close the championship up and gave nothing to Kimi as the injured party so to speak. If indeed Hamilton broke the rules as suggested this did not affect Massa and gives all the advantage to Massa. It is interesting that the penalty was given in this way when if there was a breech of rules you would have thought the penalty would give somehting to the person who lost the advantage not a certain red team who needed the help! Max Mosley said this year that Ferrari were the most important team in F1, when the governing bodies head man says this to the press it is clear there is favourism towards Ferrari and this only succeeds in making it more obvious!

@ Karga.
whether you believe that the FIA favour Ferrari or not is immaterial. the appeal has to be heard to clarify the ruling AND the rule. According to McLaren the pass was acceptable to Charlie Whiting and the race directors. IF no-one complained from them and Ferrari claim they did not protest why was it investigated?

We ALL know the outcome will be that the penalty will be upheld probably with a further fine, but at least the teams will ALL know what they can protest about.

Agree 100% Shirley - McLaren HAVE to protest, if only purely to clarify the rules. We live in a society where there is a right to protest/appeal (in theory!) & so should the F1 world.

Looking forward to hearing the result.....

WHO CARES---IT IS A LOAD OF NONSENSE LIKE THE WHOLE F1 CIRCUS