Triple world Formula One champion Niki Lauda yesterday came out in support of the McLaren team as the FIA international court of appeal prepared to convene this morning in Paris to hear Ferrari's formal appeal against the disqualification of Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher from Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.
Lauda, who won world championships for Ferrari in 1975 and 1977 and a third for McLaren in 1984, said he thought the court's only realistic option was to endorse the exclusion of the Ferraris over their technically illegal bodywork and thus confirm Hakkinen as world champion for the second consecutive season.
"Anything else than Mika Hakkinen staying world champion would be a farce," he told a Munich newspaper.
"Formula One must be free from marketing decisions. It must stay a sport in which regulations and rules have to be respected. I would rather have fewer spectators at Suzuka (for the Japanese Grand Prix) than people saying they don't want to watch racing (in future) because it's like boxing where you get the impression the results are discussed beforehand."
Lauda also rejected the contention of Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One's financial power broker, that the stewards had made the wrong decision in disqualifying the Ferraris. "All Ecclestone's ideas are market-driven," he said.
Former driver Gerhard Berger also said that Ferraris' offending item, amounting to a 10mm variation on the "barge boards", might have been crucial. He said: "That sounds very little but the aerodynamic performance of a grand prix car can be decided by a centimetre in the right place."
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