A Formula One season without courtroom drama just will not do, it seems. The legal buffs are going to get their fix this time round after McLaren Mercedes confirmed yesterday that they will appeal against the decision by the stewards to demote Lewis Hamilton from first to third place at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa- Francorchamps on Sunday.

McLaren said that they were told twice by Charlie Whiting, the FIA-appointed race director, before the grand prix had finished, that Hamilton had, in effect, done nothing wrong.

Notwithstanding this, the stewards subsequently found that the British driver had gained an unfair advantage by cutting the Bus Stop chicane three laps from the end, as he attacked Kimi Raikkonen, the race leader in a Ferrari, and emerged on the pit-straight ahead of him. McLaren say that Hamilton then gave the position back as required by the rules before attacking Raikkonen for a second time.

Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren chief executive, said yesterday that if there had been any doubts among the team about the legality of Hamilton's position, they would have asked him to let Raikkonen pass for a second time.

“From the pitwall, we asked race control to confirm that they were comfortable that Lewis had allowed Kimi to re-pass, and they confirmed twice that they believed that the position had been given back in a manner that was ‘OK',” Whitmarsh said. “If race control had instead expressed any concern regarding Lewis's actions at that time, we would have instructed Lewis to allow Kimi to re-pass.”

Commenting on what has become a cause célèbre for his fans, many of whom believe that Hamilton is the victim of bias within the FIA or even a conspiracy to stop him becoming world champion, Hamilton said he had no doubt that he had allowed the Finnish driver to re-establish his position in the correct manner. “After allowing Kimi to completely re-pass me, I crossed from the left side of the track to the right, passing behind Kimi,” he said. “I then attacked Kimi on the inside of the first corner and successfully outbraked him.”

The decision to continue with legal action is a risky one for McLaren because the team may find that the FIA's court of appeal dismisses their case as inadmissible because Hamilton was handed a 25-second “drive-through” penalty that normally is not subject to appeal. The team also risk even greater sanction if their appeal fails, while there is the danger that the case could take McLaren's collective eye off the ball as this season's championship nears its climax.

However, it may turn out that because Hamilton's punishment was handed down retrospectively, the FIA judges will consider it a special case. There is also believed to be concern within the FIA that this highly inflammatory issue is subjected to due process in open court, to ensure that those people who are alleging anti-Hamilton or anti-McLaren bias are reassured.

The case is likely to be heard some time after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza this weekend and before the night race in Singapore on September 28. The FIA is thought to be keen that the matter is cleared up quickly so that the championship is decided on the track and not in the courtroom.

The extent of the fury principally, but not exclusively, among Hamilton supporters was evidenced by the fact that an online petition to the FIA that maintains that Hamilton was “unfairly stripped of his win” had been signed by more than 24,000 people last night.

Perhaps mindful of the furore, one of the three stewards who sat at Spa took the unusual step of publicly denying that there was any conspiracy against the British driver or McLaren. Surinder Thathi, from Kenya, said that the stewards believed there had been a clear breach of the rules.

“There was no conspiracy against anybody, McLaren included,” Thathi said. “I know I am a very unpopular person in the United Kingdom now, but then I was doing my job and I know I acted professionally.”