Saturday, October 23, 1999 Published at 20:19 GMT
McLaren anger over F1 decision
The results from the Malaysian Grand Prix stand
The McLaren team have reacted sharply after the rival Ferrari team won its appeal against disqualification from the Malaysian Grand Prix.
McLaren boss Ron Dennis said the real loser was not their team - for whom Mika Hakkinen would have retained the title if the appeal had failed - but genuine motor racing fans.
"It's really more than anything else a bad day for the sport," he said.
Stewards had said unauthorised modifications had been made to the Ferrari cars driven by Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher.
But on Saturday, the motor racing appeal court in Paris overturned the disqualification of the Ferrari team's drivers who took first and second places in last weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.
The five-man international panel found that the changes were within the rules.
The judgment means that Irvine keeps a four-point advantage over Mika Hakkinen and the championship will be decided at the forthcoming final grand prix of the season in Japan.
"I think it's slightly hypocritical to say there was no performance influence because that is a very aerodynamically critical area on the car. Hence the reason why those components were covered up every time the car stopped," he said.
And for the first time, Norbert Haug, the head of Mercedes racing, admitted that it was McLaren who had tipped off stewards about Ferrari - a charge the team previously denied.
"Our mechanics became suspicious," he said.
However, a philosophical Hakkinen seemed to accept the decision, saying: "The events of the last week are now behind us and I am - as always - focusing on the next race."
Irvine said his team had been "totally exonerated".
"I didn't want people to think that it was political, it was business, or any of that sort of carry on that got us reinstated," he said.
Ferrari's chairman Luca di Montezemolo said the ruling "acknowledged that our cars were perfectly normal".
He said the decision also "silenced many unfair interpretations which displeased us so much".
Dozens of Ferrari fans braved the rain to celebrate in front of the company's headquarters in the northern Italian town of Maranello.
Commercial consideration denied
Some correspondents questioned whether the court had ruled in favour of Ferrari simply to boost public interest in the final race of the season.
He said that at the hearing the FIA's technical delegate had measured the "turning vane" and admitted it fell within the tolerance in every respect.
"No judge would have any alternative but to make the finding they found," he added.
Earlier, FIA vice-president Bernie Ecclestone said the disqualification had been "nonsense".
At the news conference, Mr Mosley said Mr Ecclestone had no power over rule enforcement and that the judges would not have paid any attention to his views despite his financial power in the sport.
Mr Dennis said he was convinced that Ferrari had made an honest mistake over the size of the aerodynamic aids.
But he added: "I think it is slightly hypocritical to say there is no performance influence because that is a very aerodynamically critical area on the car."
Almost two-thirds of contributors to BBC News Online's Talking Point disagreed with the disqualification.
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