McLaren's protest flounders

(14-Jul-98) - McLaren's hopes of invalidating Michael Schumacher's victory
in the British Grand Prix seem highly unlikely following the admission by
the FIA that its race officials failed to apply the sport's rules
correctly.

The FIA's view is that the race stewards made a series of mistakes in the
heat of the moment, and had they applied the penalty the stewards wanted -
an end of race time penalty - it would not have affected the outcome of the
race anyway.

McLaren does not agree, and will take its case to the FIA Court of Appeal.
The hearing is expected to take place before the next Grand Prix, in
Austria on July 24.

The handling of the incident has added fuel to rumours that the FIA favours
Ferrari and will bend the rules to the benefit of the classic marque.

Further suspicions were aroused when Eddie Irvine, who had been challenging
Hakkinen for second place, slowed down in the last three laps. This meant
that Hakkinen eased off and made no attempt to close on Schumacher, making
it more likely that the German would build up enough of a lead to keep the
victory even if a time penalty was imposed at the end of the race.

McLaren did not know about the penalty because it was never notified on the
timing screens. Irvine claimed his car lost grip.

It is unclear on what grounds McLaren will appeal the decision. It's
possible they will claim that because Schumacher's offence - passing Alex
Wurz under a stationary yellow flag - happened on lap 43, more than 12 laps
before the end of the race, he should have been awarded a 10-second stop-go
penalty.

The stewards are said to have intended the penalty to be added on to
Schumacher's elapsed time, but the rules (see story above) dictate that a
punishable incident committed more than 12 laps before the end of the race
must be penalised with a stop-go penalty.

Had Schumacher been given a stop-go penalty, it would have cost him in the
region of 27 seconds, which would have put him second behind McLaren driver
Mika Hakkinen. That would have resulted in the Finn winning the race, and
would have put him 10 points clear of Schumacher with seven races to go in
the World Championship. Now, the margin is only two points.

The result of the appeal will be known on July 24th - check autosport for
the details.

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