Raikkonen confirmed as F1 champion

LONDON, England -- Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen has been confirmed as the 2007 Formula One world champion after McLaren's hopes of amending the result of the Brazilian Grand Prix was rejected by the Court of Appeal.

McLaren had appealed the result of the season-ending race, believing BMW Sauber and Williams were in breach of F1 regulations.

If Williams' Nico Rosberg and the BMW Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld had been disqualified, that could have resulted in McLaren's Lewis Hamilton being promoted to fourth, taking the title in the process.

But after a lengthy deliberation by the judges who presided over Thursday's hearing in London, they decided McLaren's appeal was inadmissible, confirming Raikkonen as champion.

A statement read: "Following a report from the technical delegate indicating the temperature of fuel pumped into the cars of Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima, was more than 10 degrees centigrade below ambient temperature -- the stewards of the meeting met to consider whether a penalty should be imposed.

"Having heard the evidence they decided not to impose a penalty as they had sufficient doubt as to both the temperature of the fuel on board the car and to the true ambient temperature.

"Having heard the explanations of both parties and having examined the various documents and other evidence, the court decided that the appeal lodged by McLaren is inadmissible."

McLaren had called into question the decision of the stewards at Interlagos not to punish Williams and BMW Sauber for apparently using 'cool fuel', so gaining a performance advantage.

Rosberg, Kubica and Heidfield finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in Brazil behind race-winner Raikkonen, with Hamilton seventh and so missing out on the title by a point from the Finn.

McLaren continually maintained in the build-up to the appeal that their motive was for clarity of the regulations, and not for Hamilton to win the title in the courtroom.

However, after initially arguing whether McLaren's case was first admissible, and then the merits of their action, the team's lawyer Ian Mill QC called for disqualification of the three drivers and a reclassification of the championship.

That prompted Ferrari's lawyer, Nigel Tozzi QC, to brand McLaren as "naked opportunists," further suggesting they are "shameless hypocrites devoid of any integrity".

The four judges -- John Cassidy from the United States, Vassilis Koussis from Greece, Jose Nacedo E Cunha from Portugal and Jan Stovicek from the Czech Republic -- listened to four hours of legal argument at the hearing.

Their verdict concludes a miserable season for McLaren, after the team were fined $100 million and stripped of all their constructors' points in the 'spygate' case. E-mail to a friend