Lewis Hamilton said he was disappointed but not depressed on Tuesday after a court rejected McLaren’s appeal to have the Formula One leader reinstated as Belgian Grand Prix winner.
The decision left the 23-year-old Briton just one point clear of Ferrari’s Brazilian Felipe Massa with four races remaining.
The Formula One driver on Monday spent five and a half hours at an FIA International Court of Appeal hearing in Paris hoping the decision of the stewards to demote him from race winner to third on the back of the 25-second penalty would be overturned.
Race officials at Spa-Francorchamps overturned his win and demoted him to third in the belief that he had gained unfair advantage.
The five FIA International Court of Appeal judges in Paris upheld the original decision to hand down a drive-through penalty at the end of the race for a breach of Article 30.3 (a) of the 2008 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations and Appendix L, Chapter 4, Article 2 (g) of the International Sporting Code.
The hearing ruled that Article 152 of the International Sporting Code states drive-through penalties are “not susceptible to appeal” and therefore threw out Hamilton’s claim.
“Having heard the explanations of the parties the Court has concluded that the appeal is inadmissible,” the FIA judges said.
McLaren’s lawyers had tried to press a case that as Hamilton did not take to the pit lane the penalty he received was a time addition rather than a drive-through sanction.
“People will probably expect me to be depressed about today’s result, but that isn’t me,” the 23-year-old Hamilton said in a statement. “All I want to do now is put this matter behind me and get on with what we drivers do best: racing each other.”
“We’re racers, we’re naturally competitive, and we love to overtake,” Hamilton said. “Overtaking is difficult, and it feels great when you manage to pull off a great passing maneuver. If it pleases the spectators and TV viewers, it’s better still. So I’m disappointed, yes, but not depressed.”
After the penalty, the win was awarded to Massa, while Hamilton was bumped to third.
Following Singapore, racers go to Japan and China before completing the championship in Brazil.
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