Britain's
Lewis Hamilton has said that he is looking forward to the 2008 season now following confirmation that
Kimi Raikkonen has won the 2007 drivers' title.
Although Lewis had already said publicly that he didn't want to win the title through the courts and that he wanted to win it on the track,
McLaren's appeal against the decision not to disqualify the BMW-Sauber and
Williams' cars from last month's Brazilian Grand Prix did mean that was a possibility.
Speaking after McLaren's appeal was ruled to be ‘inadmissible', Hamilton noted though that it was never his or the teams intention to try and take the title away from Kimi.
“As I have said all along, Kimi deserved to win the 2007 World Drivers' Championship, and neither I nor anyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes had any desire to take it off him in court,” Lewis confirmed. “That was not the purpose of the team's appeal.
“I am looking forward to the 2008 season now and racing Kimi, and all my other rivals, on track and hopefully be able to go one better than the second place I achieved in this year's World Drivers' Championship."
McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh meanwhile reiterated that their appeal was purely to do with 'rule clarification and rule consistency' [see separate story].
