Bernie Ecclestone rarely talks about retiring from running the sport he loves, but he joked yesterday that he would think about doing so if the FIA, motor sport’s governing body, contrived to take the World Championship away from Kimi Raikkonen and awarded it to Lewis Hamilton.

There is a more than theoretical possibility that the FIA’s Court of Appeal, which meets in London tomorrow, could reaward this year’s championship if it decides that the Williams and BMW Sauber cars should be retrospectively disqualified from the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix for using illegal “cool” fuel.

If the court upholds an appeal by McLaren Mercedes against the decision of the stewards at Interlagos not to throw out the cars, the FIA could change the result of the drivers’ championship. Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, of BMW, and Nico Rosberg, of Williams, could be disqualified from the race, which could hand the title to Hamilton.

Like Hamilton, Ecclestone is against any such thing. “I don’t think that the Formula One fans would like a championship to be won because the temperature of the fuel, which can’t be measured anyway, is possibly 5C out,” Ecclestone said. “If anybody thinks that’s the best thing for Formula One, then I’d have a very serious thought about me retiring.”

Ecclestone believes that the infringement by Williams and BMW is of the same order as McLaren’s rules infringement in Brazil, where Hamilton’s mechanics illegally used an extra set of tyres during practice. The punishment from the stewards was a small fine and the confiscation of the offending set of rubber.

“I don’t think anything’s going to happen if it goes through,” Ecclestone said. “In my opinion, they don’t have to change the results of the race – it’s an infringement of the regulations. On the same weekend, McLaren used an extra set of tyres, which they shouldn’t have used – that was an infringement - so maybe if anything does happen at this Court of Appeal, maybe they’ll treat it exactly the same as the tyres.”

BMW and Williams are expected to argue at the hearing that McLaren’s appeal is inadmissible and there are several ways under Formula One’s rules that an outcome of that nature can be arrived at. Ecclestone is hoping the lawyers will reach that conclusion. “That would be exactly right,” he said.

One other way out of this legal maze would be for McLaren to declare, at the eleventh hour, that they have decided to drop the appeal, something that Ecclestone hopes may happen. “I don’t think Ron [Dennis, the McLaren team principal] has really got the intention of continuing with it,” he said.

The Woking-based team have still not determined who will drive alongside Hamilton next season. But there is no doubt that Rosberg is their No 1 target, despite recent comments by Sir Frank Williams, the eponymous team principal, that the German is staying put at Williams. At McLaren, it is being noted that Rosberg, 22, has remained tight-lipped about his desires, amid speculation that he wants to leave.

In Barcelona, the first test of the “winter season” took place at the Circuit de Catalunya yesterday with 20 drivers at the wheels of an assortment of cars. Michael Schumacher was driving a 2007 Ferrari without traction control in his first proper return to the cockpit since retiring 12 months ago.

Schumacher was in the car to help the Scuderia to understand the technical issues arising from dropping traction control and the seven-times world champion appeared to have lost none of his spark. He was the quickest man on the track after completing 64 laps. Schumacher has made it clear that he has no plans to return to race driving.