McLaren have said they intend to fight the punishment that stripped Lewis Hamilton of his Belgian Grand Prix win.

Stewards hit the Englishman with a 25-second penalty, demoting him to third, for cutting a chicane as he battled with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

McLaren said they would appeal on the grounds that Hamilton had immediately ceded the position back to Raikkonen.

Triple world champion Niki Lauda has described the stewards’ decision as “the worst judgement in F1 history”.

“It is the most perverted judgment I have ever seen,” said the Austrian, who won the title for both Ferrari and McLaren.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable when three functionaries (the stewards) influence the championship like this.”

A McLaren spokesman said: “Having passed the lead back to Kimi, Lewis repositioned, moving his car across and behind Kimi to the right-hand line.

“He then outbraked him into the hairpin. We intend to appeal.”

McLaren have seven days to decide whether to go ahead with the appeal.

Taken from www.bbc.co.uk

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