20-Sep-08: Ron Dennis Believes in the International Court of Appeal
This is F1 Minute and it’s the 20th September 2008.
Ron Dennis has said he has absolute faith in the International Court of Appeal, who are due to meet on Monday to discuss the Belgium penalty against Lewis Hamilton. When asked if he thinks there is a bias against anyone other than Ferrari, Dennis said: “Although Lewis has had five penalties already this season, I wouldn’t claim that he hasn’t been treated fairly. More importantly, we have to have faith in the system, and in the fairness of the FIA International Court of Appeal at which our appeal will be heard.”
Elsewhere, other teams are looking forward as well, although the Singapore Grand Prix seems to be at the forefront of their minds. BMW boss Mario Theissen thinks it is going to be something to behold: “You only need to think of the special atmosphere you get at a football match under floodlights: the surroundings melt into the background, the action itself takes centre stage. I’m expecting this premiere in Singapore to be the highlight of the year.”
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
16-Nov-07: McLaren Appeal Rejected by ICA
This is F1 Minute for the 16th November 2007.
Two court decisions were revealed today, the most important being McLaren’s hearing against BMW and Williams. The FIA’s International Court of Appeal heard all the evidence and after a day’s deliberation came to the conclusion that McLaren’s appeal was inadmissible. Although the verdict doesn’t really tell us anything, we know that the results of the 2007 World Championship will remain the same and Kimi Raikkonen is still the champ.
Ferrari are obviously very satisfied with this outcome, whilst McLaren say they are hoping the full FIA statement will provide them with the clarification that they were after.
The other court issue resolved today was between BMW and Toyota who both thought they had the services of test driver Timo Glock. The Contract Recognition Board have ruled that Timo is free of his BMW deal and can sign with whoever he wants. BMW had offered Timo a test driver deal for 2008, but he preferred the move to Toyota where a race seat is most likely waiting for him.
That’s all for today, have a great weekend, and join me on Monday for another F1 Minute.