Andrew Waldron, you are the perfect sample of hypocrisy. All that "sportmanship" rubish of yours, is an insult to sportmanship. Its not that you dont know, its not that nobody told you, its not that you mean well... you just call cheater to the cheated. Theres no excuse. You are the perfect detestable hypocritical bigot. Shame on you, sad cheap sanctimonious.

Pino, Amaya,

It's funny how all this issue awakes bitter feelings towards certain driver wich is not involve at all. I'm sure many of those predicting Hamilton as the favourite for next season did't know who was he last year.
talkin' about humiliation?

xeron, cardiff, uk

Andrew, did you make a mistake when typing?

"It would be gratifying to see Alonso legitimately humiliated by whatever means. One more dangerous and unsportsmanlike stunt like some he pulled last season ought to lead to a well deserved ban for life".

you wanted to say Hamilton, didn´t you?
because Hamilton was unsportsmanlike when he complained to FIA against his own team (twice), and Hamilton was very dangerous to the point of causing a crash in Japan.
But please, do not worry, "they" will never ban Hamilton for life...if they haven´t done it yet.

Regards

jordi, bournemouth, uk

This disgraceful appeal has shown yet again what poor losers as well as poor managers the team at McLaren team have proved to be. It’s dis-ingenious to suggest the appeal was only about a clarification of the rules knowing full well that had it been successful Hamilton would have been awarded the title by default. That’s pathetically transparent. They had what was demonstrably the best car, a proven double world champion who had been successful even when competing with the best of the best, the support of the world’s biggest manufacturer of prestige cars and pots of money. But they still conspired amongst themselves to throw it all away and get themselves heavily fined and thrown out of the constructor’s championship in the process. I would love to hear what spin Ron Dennis puts on all of this when he fronts the McLaren-Mercedes staff this christmas. And god knows what the Chairman and Board of M-B and Vodafone must think. McLaren lost because they deserved to.

Colin Whewell, Brisbane, Australia

Seems to me that Mclarens' objectives were more subtle than either the "clarification" whitmarsh talked about, or trying to make their man champion retrospectively.

What their motives were is hard to say, maybe a message that "if you mess with us we will cause more trouble than you can imagine" to the FIA, note the issue with williams who are under investigation for stealing mclarens secrets, maybe mclaren are trying to reduce the political power which ferrari seem to have over F1, maybe they are simply making a point that the F1 is like a fiefdom with the most powerful making up the rules anf punishments as they go along

richard williams, weybridge, uk

Roll on next season. Here's hoping we see an exciting battle for the Championship free of last season's back-stabbing and cheating. Those concerned know who they are and so do we. Their, "nice guys come second", attitude has caused them to dishonour a sport that many a brave man has died to promote.

Cheating behind the scenes, however, is one thing. Cheating on the race track is quite another.

It would be gratifying to see Alonso legitimately humiliated by whatever means. One more dangerous and unsportsmanlike stunt like some he pulled last season ought to lead to a well deserved ban for life.

Andrew Waldron, Bournemouth, England

Lewis Hamilton would not have accepted the championship title if McLaren had won the day - he is too nice a guy and will win it in his own time - and fairly. I am rather ashamed of being a McLaren supporter and I thought better of Ron Dennis than to even think of this appeal. Kimi won fair and square. He deserves our accolade. It is a pity he had to do it with Ferrari, who run to hide in the skirts of Mosely and the FIA (someone said it stands for Ferrari International Assistance - I can think of a better, but unprintable, definition), when the going gets tough. As for the poison dwarf - well, no comment necessary. Well done Kimi and well done Lewis. I can see an exciting season between these two and Massa (brilliant) in 2008. Alonso should go and test drive for Super Aguri. It would put him in his place and be good for S.A.

Michael, Peacehaven, England, Britain, UK.

I think a lot of people are taking it for fact that the BMW and Williams' fuel was infringing the rules. This may not be the case, and therefore do not deserve to be penalized. This is an issue that the FIA needs address on the methods and standards of measurements of Fuel temperatures.

Dan, Michigan, USA

Jose F. Tomas, Majadahonda, Madrid

Sir, you've made me laugh harder than at any other point in this season. You actually have a point about the Ferrari team orders ensuring a Kimi win, but how you get from that to Fernando winning the title, well, only you know.

I can't wait for next season. All the cars on ice cold fuel, Fernando in his Toyota tractor, McLaren wondering why the Renault looks just like their car, Ferrari wondering where Mr Brawn went, and Button with no excuses for being slow. Roll on 2008!

Rick , Dubai, UAE

I do not understand why a brand like Mercedes continues to be linked to McLaren. Damaging, very damaging.

John, London,

Again the same story, McLaren saying one thing and doing another one! There is no number one, but obviously there were (Hamilton, of course). We don´t want to win the championship this way but we ask for BMW and williams to be disqualified.
What a team of cheaters!

marian, santander, spain

Mr.Hamilton says that neither he nor Mclaren intended to deprive Raikkonen of the title.They must have forgotten to brief
their lawyer of this as he argued for exactly this outcome.The british press has firmly fixed a halo around Hamilton's head.He is an exceptional driver but like all champions has a
ruthless streak.Please dont make him out to be a saint.These days saints seldom win championships.Actually he might be better advised to follow Raikkonen and talk less though this may not be to the liking of Mr.Ecclestone!!

K.S.Nirody, Geneva, Switzerland

It looks to me as if the FIA couldn't dispute that the 3 teams broke the rules and therefore looked for a loophole to avoid having to make any decisions on docking them drivers or constructors points.

Tom H, Birmingham, England

hey guys,

what about spying other teams? Is that fair in your opinion?

Daniele, Rome, Italy

This is great disaster.
So from result and the reluctance of the case to go forward it seems nothing is to stop illegal fuel temperature at all future races.

What utter rubbish.
I have been a fan of Formula 1 for over 20 years and this stinks.
How on earth can the stewards balk at ruling about illegal fuel temperature.

Now all the teams will be in a technological race to improve their performance via their fuel, and yet no-one knows if it will be ruled against or not.
This would not be allowed in other motorsport.

Aubrey, London,

McLaren would have had more chances to win the WC if they had appealed the Court to study how Kimi won the race, when Massa was consistenty faster during the week end and during the race than his team mate... DId they ask for the team radio communications looking for some kind of instruction? They didn't, as they were not racing against Kimi, as we know... There was a clear team instruction (Kimi first, Massa second), that is illegal, so the moral WC is Alonso... And Montezolo and all the Ferrari team knows it

Jose F. Tomas, Majadahonda, Madrid

How many times can you lose a championship, Ron?

jordi, bournemouth,

Dave, yes, I think you are the only one.
Even in tne improbable case that the two cars would be disqualified for that reason, it would be impossible, given the precedents, for the two pilots to be disqualified too, and, even in that case, Hamilton will not gain the points he need to win the title (as the other teams gained no points from the disqualification of McLaren team)
The appeal was without hope from the beginning, and had the only goal to shadow the victory of McLaren bitter rivals.

Andrea, Rome, Italy

Am I the only one who reads this as... Kimi only retains the title because of an error in the way the protest/appeal has been lodged?

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't want Kimi to have the title taken away and I certainly would hate for it to be awarded to Hamilton under those circumstances.

Dave, Gibraltar,

'The court of appeal of the FIA, the world governing body of motor sport, saved Lewis Hamilton from the embarrassment of being retrospectively awarded the Formula One drivers’ championship ...' Sucha a funny way of speaking, indeed. If Hamilton, Dennis and McLaren didn't want the title, then, why did they appeal? They could have saved themselves from such an 'embarrassment' simply by not appealing.
Besides winning the title, no one understands the reason for the team's appeal. You don't need a court appeal just for 'rule clarification and consistency'. You can do it easily in a meeting with all the teams or with FIA. According to the McLaren lawyer's statements, the team claimed for disqualification of BMW and Williams drivers. Hypocrisy is the word. And Ed, please, why don't you simply call a spade a spade?

Antonio, Madrid,

The rules can only be too complex, a bit like those in sailing. When sports are controlled by lawyers' interpretaions of correct procedure away from the acual contest, simplification of these rules is urgently needed. Calling the Maclaren management 'cheats' is infantile: they were persuing clarification of a rule, which still has not been clarified. Instead, their case was ruled inadmissable because it was not presented as a protest. Kimi retains the title, and rightly so, but the cool fuel question has not been dealt with as it should have been.

Kiwi Expat, London, Middlesex

The last saloon for chancers - throwing out the appeal on a technicality, not because the complaint was wrong in its fact. The FIA and Formula One are now without a shred of credibility.

Dominic Stockford, Teddington,

Hooray for Justice,

As the old proverb says “cheats never prosper”.
The rightful winners to both titles won. Ron, suck eggs.

Adrian T, Melbourne, Australia

This regrettable issue has come finally to an end that is not good for Britons or Spaniards, but at least it seems fair. The managers at McLaren have done things in the worst way and they deserve to lose as constructors. I hope de la Rosa will be a good driver for McLaren and a better teammate for Hamilton than Alonso was. Good luck to everybody next season.

ralph a. martin, Bilbao, Spain