LEWIS Hamilton last night flew to Singapore with his integrity intact after a demanding five-and-half-hour International Court of Appeal hearing in Paris.
Hamilton will today discover whether the evidence he gave will move him a step closer to his dream of becoming Formula 1 world champion.
The lawyers representing McLaren, the FIA and Ferrari initially argued for two hours whether the appeal to a
retrospective 25-second drive-through penalty imposed against Hamilton at the Belgian Grand Prix 16 days ago was admissible.
Hamilton then stood up to the test of effectively being put on the stand, with the 23-year-old holding firm under cross-examination from Ferrari's counsel, Nigel Tozzi QC.
At one stage, Hamilton rounded on Tozzi as he attempted to explain the incident, stating: "Are you a racing driver? No! I have been a racing driver since I was eight years old and I know pretty much every single manoeuvre in the book, and that's why I'm the best at my job.
"We are talking about a skilled driver under intense pressure making a split-second decision which no-one, not unless they are in Formula 1, can comprehend."
The five judges – Xavier Conesa (Spain), Philippe Narmino (Monaco), Erich Sedelmayer (Austria), Harry Duijm (Netherlands) and Thierry Julliard (Switzerland) – will examine McLaren's grounds to appeal.
FIA rules state a drive-through penalty is "not susceptible to an appeal," in contrast to a standard time penalty such as the one handed to Vitantonio Liuzzi after last year's Japanese Grand Prix. The Italian, then with Toro Rosso, had 25 seconds added to his time for passing Spyker's Adrian Sutil under waved yellow flags. McLaren barrister Mark Phillips QC, who acted on behalf of Spyker on that occasion, won the appeal case, allowing Sutil to claim the team's only point of the season for finishing eighth.
Phillips argued that as Hamilton did not drive through the pit lane for his penalty, the punishment in this instance simply relates to time, and is therefore subject to an appeal. If the judges side with McLaren, they will then look at Hamilton's corner-cutting move on Kimi Raikkonen and determine whether he gained an advantage. Although Hamilton immediately ceded the lead back to Raikkonen down the pit straight at Spa, he swiftly attacked into the ensuing La Source hairpin.
Video footage was analysed in great detail, to which Hamilton added:
"I've since studied it about ten times and I can remember it vividly like it was yesterday. I believe I then gave the advantage back."
At stake is six points which – if McLaren and Hamilton successfully overturn the stewards' decision – will see him increase his lead in the drivers' standings over Ferrari's Felipe Massa from one point to seven points.
The full article contains 466 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
