Hamilton

London: McLaren’s appeal to penalise four drivers for fuel irregularities at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix — which could hand Lewis Hamilton the Formula One title — will be heard in London on Thursday.

The court of appeal for motor sport’s world governing body will hear McLaren’s appeal against the decision by stewards in Brazil to not penalise BMW and Williams for fuel irregularities in the October 21 race.

Their drivers finished fourth, fifth, sixth and 10th in Sao Paulo and if at least two of the three who finished ahead of Hamilton were punished, he would have taken the drivers’ title instead of Kimi Raikkonen.

Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone is concerned about the appeal.

“I don’t think that the Formula One fans would like a championship to be won because the temperature of the fuel, which can’t be measured anyway, is possibly 5°C out,” Ecclestone was quoted as saying in a British paper on Wednesday.

“If anybody thinks that’s the best thing for Formula One then I’d have a very serious thought about me retiring.”

Raikkonen won the Brazil GP and Hamilton finished seventh. That meant Raikkonen won the drivers’ title by one point.

Ecclestone believes the fuel infringements were not a serious breach of the rules.

“In my opinion, they don’t have to change the results of the race — it’s an infringement of the regulations,” Ecclestone said. “On the same weekend, McLaren used an extra set of tires, which they shouldn’t have used — so if anything does happen at this court of appeal, maybe they’ll treat it exactly the same as the tires.”

McLaren was given a small fine and had the extra set of tires confiscated.