MOTOR SPORT BELGIAN GRAND PRIX DECISION:McLAREN WILL decide today whether to proceed with their appeal against the stewards' decision at Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix to strip Lewis Hamilton of victory and inflict a 25-second penalty which dropped him to third place as punishment for gaining an illegal advantage before overtaking Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in the closing stages of the race.

On Sunday evening McLaren formally lodged notification of their intention to protest and have 48 hours from the race to translate that into a firm appeal. While the team consider their position, the senior management are making no comment, but it is believed they are considering whether it might be more beneficial to accept the penalty rather than disrupt their preparations for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

It is understood the stewards based their decision on the fact Hamilton gained momentum by straight-lining the tight chicane before the pits and, although he backed off the throttle sufficiently to permit Raikkonen to regain the lead by the time they crossed the start/finish line, his extra speed made it easier for him to repass the world champion.

However, McLaren are confident that, in the event of their proceeding with the appeal, they can prove from their telemetry that Hamilton was running 6km/h slower than Raikkonen at the start/finish line and gained no such performance increment.

Meanwhile, former Ferrari driver Niki Lauda, who lost the 1976 world championship by a single point to McLaren's James Hunt, said the stewards' ruling was "the worst decision ever".

"Hamilton did nothing wrong," said Lauda. "He was on the outside, and then let him (Raikkonen) by, which is the rule. Then afterwards he passed him. There was nothing wrong from Hamilton. There was nothing special in what happened."

Guardian Service