Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher maintained his stranglehold at the top of the timesheets on Wednesday, the second day of testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya. Schumacher clocked a best time of 1m 21.489s in the Ferrari at the Spanish track - four-tenths of a second quicker than the McLaren of Pedro de la Rosa.

Despite the low temperatures and cloudy conditions, the German completed 90 laps in the F2007. He was joined by former team mate Felipe Massa, who finished the day in fourth. Massa and Schumacher both worked on the development of new components and electronics. The Brazilian will continue at the track on Thursday, alongside Ferrari tester Luca Badoer.

Second-placed De la Rosa was joined by fellow McLaren tester Gary Paffett who finished in fifth. The pair continued the team's preparations for 2008, testing the MP4-22 without driver aids. They covered a total of 117 laps and will be back in action on Thursday.

Renault's Heikki Kovalainen clocked the third-fastest time, as he continued testing the new electronic control unit (ECU). Despite a minor technical glitch in the afternoon, Kovalainen completed 65 laps.

Nico Rosberg set the pace for Williams, finishing in sixth. He was joined by ninth-placed team mate Kazuki Nakajima. Both worked through system checks and evaluations of the new ECU and will be back in action on Thursday for a third day.

Red Bull's David Coulthard was seventh fastest. Coulthard completed 74 laps in the RB3, while testing various mechanical and aerodynamic components for 2008. The Scot was joined on track by debutant Karun Chandhok, 11th, who focused on evaluating the squad's electrical systems for next season during his second - and final - day of testing. Robert Doornbos will take over Chandhok's cockpit on Thursday.

Nick Heidfeld proved the quicker of the two BMW Sauber drivers in eighth, with team mate Robert Kubica posting the 14th-fastest time. Both tested the new ECU, alongside several other new components for next season. Heidfeld covered 102 laps, while Kubica, who experienced several technical issues, managed just 37.

Sebastian Vettel once again got the edge on new Toro Rosso team mate Sebastien Bourdais. Vettel finished in 10th, while Bourdais posted exactly the same time as Honda debutant Luca Filippi to tie for 16th. GP2 driver Filippi was joined by the Japanese team's race driver Jenson Button, who got his first taste of the car with 2008 electronics and finished in 12th.

Jarno Trulli continued to set the pace for Toyota claiming 13th spot, with team tester Franck Montagny ending the day in 18th. Montagny carried on testing the ECU, while Trulli continued to evaluate 2008 parts in a TF107 without traction control.

"Today was quite a productive day," explained Pascal Vasselon, senior general manager chassis. "We made good progress on Jarno's car, working on set-up comparisons and we are pleased with the results, which are very encouraging. Franck again worked with 2008 development parts and the new standard ECU and, even though he suffered some delays and was not entirely happy, he was able to bring back some information which will help our understanding."

Anthony Davidson remained Super Aguri's only runner at the Spanish circuit and clocked the 15th-fastest time. Davidson carried out an engine and gearbox programme before switching to 2008 suspension and aero work in the afternoon.

Completing Wednesday's line-up was a trio of drivers for Force India. Confirmed race driver Adrian Sutil, 20th, was joined by former Honda tester Christian Klien, 19th, and ex-Toro Rosso racer Vitantonio Liuzzi, 21st. All three finished within two-tenths of a second of each other.

While Sutil had full use of a re-liveried Spyker F8-VII all day, Liuzzi and Klien traded places in the other, with the Austrian handing the car over to the Italian after lunch.

"Generally a very productive day of testing," said chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne. "Our major test item on both cars was the standard ECU configuration. We had no major problems and were work through to get through the unsolved issues, with both cars completing over 100 laps each. It was also a chance to test Christian and Tonio, who had their first runs in the car to make themselves comfortable. We will continue our programme tomorrow with them driving a car each for the whole day."

Ferrari has warned that Formula 1's reputation may be damaged if Kimi Raikkonen loses his 2007 drivers' world title in the court room.

During the FIA Court of Appeal hearing convened to establish the result of the Brazilian Grand Prix following the so-called 'cool fuel' row, in London on Thursday, Ferrari's representative Nigel Tozzi QC, said it would be a "serious injustice" if Lewis Hamilton inherited the title as a result of Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld's potential disqualification.

"This is not the way a world championship should be won," Tozzi said at the hearing.

"Mr Hamilton himself, potentially the only beneficiary, has said very clearly he does not want to win the championship this way.

"Mr Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren F1 CEO) in an interview yesterday said 'finding a way to award the world drivers' championship to Lewis retrospectively, is not at all what this is about'."

The stewards of the Brazilian Grand Prix allowed the result to stand after stating that they couldn't prove that the fuel used by Williams and BMW was illegal.

In the run-up to the hearing, the verdict of which is expected on Friday afternoon, McLaren repeatedly claimed its appeal of the result was based on a desire to establish clarity over how fuel temperatures should be regulated.

However McLaren's own legal representative, Mr Ian Mill, argued during the hearing that if the Williams and BMW cars that finished ahead of Hamilton at Interlagos were found to have been running fuel that was cooler than the regulations allow, then both teams and drivers should be disqualified from the results, establishing Hamilton as champion.

Tozzi also attacked McLaren for the position it took during the hearing, questioning its motives for calling the appeal.

"It could be said McLaren are shameless hypocrites devoid of any integrity, or maybe what their representatives have said should be taken at face value," said Tozzi.

"If what they want is clarity, then by all means let them have that, but do not allow them to have the world championship this way.

"It would be a serious injustice to Mr Raikkonen should the world title be taken away from him, a fact recognised by Mr Hamilton and Mr (Fernando) Alonso."

Tozzi went on to argue that the integrity of Formula 1 was at stake over the issue.

"It would be highly damaging for the sport if the title were to be won this way," said Tozzi.

"The fans would probably feel it had been achieved by grubby manoeuvring by the lawyers rather than by skill on the track."

Following the hearing, McLaren's CEO Martin Whitmarsh defended his team's arguments, stating that it had based it on previous precedents borne of similar circumstances.

"At today's hearing all parties had the opportunity to present evidence and make arguments based on their respective perception of the facts," he said.

"It now lies with the FIA International Court of Appeal to deliberate and issue a decision.

"As I made clear prior to the appeal, the team was seeking to clarify the regulatory uncertainty that has arisen from a decision of the FIA Stewards at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix and not to win the Driver's World Championship.

"Our lawyer's argument that an appropriate penalty would be a disqualification of the cars is based on the fact that this is ordinarily what has occurred during the last 20 years in Formula 1 when there was a breach of a technical regulation during a race.

"Consequently, while this was the only appropriate argument from a legal point of view, it's not our ultimate goal in respect of today's hearing."

Lewis Hamilton will learn if he is to be crowned world champion on Friday when judges announce their verdict into McLaren's appeal.
FORMULA 1 2007 Brazilian GP McLaren Hamilton - 0
More Stories

* Bernie: Crown Raikkonen or I quit

During Thursday court proceedings, Ferrari's lawyer said Formula One will be badly damaged if 'grubby' legal manoeuvring leads to Kimi Raikkonen losing his title to McLaren's Hamilton in a courtroom.

"It would be a serious injustice to Mr Raikkonen were the championship to be taken away from him," Nigel Tozzi told a hearing of the governing FIA's independent International Court of Appeal.

McLaren were appealing against the action of stewards at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix in failing to punish BMW Sauber and Williams for using fuel that was apparently cooler than the rules allow.

If the three drivers concerned are disqualified, Hamilton could be promoted from seventh to fourth in the race -- handing the 22-year-old British rookie the points needed to overhaul Raikkonen and become Formula One's youngest champion.

The Finn beat Hamilton by a single point at the end of the 17 race season. A decision by the four judges will be announced in Paris on Friday.

"It would be highly damaging for the sport if the title were to won this way with the fans probably feeling it was more about grubby manoeuvring by the lawyers than by skill behind the wheel," said Tozzi.

"As McLaren have always said, the championship should be decided on the racetrack and not in the courtroom."

Tozzi said comments by McLaren bosses that they were not appealing in order to win the title through the back door but for clarification of the rules should either be taken at face value or be seen as the words of "shameless hypocrites devoid of any integrity".

He, and representatives for BMW Sauber and Williams, argued that McLaren's appeal was in any case inadmissible because the team were not an interested party in the stewards' initial enquiry and had not appealed against the race classification.

BMW Sauber's lawyer Ian Meakin spoke of "naked opportunism" on the part of McLaren and suggested that, even if the appeal were to be allowed, a fine should be the maximum penalty applicable.

The stewards do not have to move Hamilton up the race order, even if others are disqualified and the driver himself has said he wants to win the title on the track.

McLaren's lawyer Ian Mill had earlier called for Hamilton to be promoted.

"The principle is clear," said Mill. "If there was a breach, it was performance-enhancing. The sanction, I'm afraid, has to be disqualification."

The lawyer urged the judges not to be influenced by the fact that the title could be at stake.

"I ask you to address this as though it was any team at any stage of the season," he said.

"Whenever in the past there has been a disqualification, there has been a re-classification... All we ask you to do is what normally happens."

McLaren were fined $100 million and stripped of all their constructors' points in September in a spying controversy involving Ferrari.

The governing body ruled at that time, however, that the McLaren drivers should keep their points because of an amnesty offered to them if they provided evidence, despite strong arguments against them remaining in the championship.

Mill turned that argument against McLaren's rivals.

"The driver may be entirely innocent...but he has the benefit of the infringing car," he said.

"It must be right that if the team is disqualified, the driver loses the points as well. In the other case, the drivers were offered immunity if they assisted the FIA."

Ferrari have accused McLaren of being "naked opportunists" at an appeal over the result of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

McLaren objected to Williams and BMW not being penalised for using fuel that was too cool in the season finale.

The FIA's ruling is expected on Friday and if it upholds the appeal, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton could depose Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen as world champion.

McLaren lawyers have called for a reclassification of the championship which led to Ferrari's sharp retort.

Hamilton was seventh in Brazil behind a Williams and both BMWs.

If Williams's Nico Rosberg and BMW Sauber pair Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld are disqualified, the Englishman could be moved up to fourth and would gain enough points to overtake Raikkonen, who won the race.

Hamilton finished the season one point behind the Finn.


It could be said McLaren are shameless hypocrites devoid of any integrity

Ferrari lawyer Nigel Tozzi

McLaren Barrister Ian Mill pointed to 26 instances in Formula One history where there had been disqualifications and a championship reclassification.

"We offer no special plea on behalf of the team, but I ask you to do what normally happens," he said.

"It's clear the infringement of this rule did have a performance-enhancing effect.

"If you put in cool fuel it increases the horse power.

"The principle is clear: if there was a performance enhancement, there was a breach and there has to be a disqualification.

"I ask you to address this as though it was any team at any stage of the season.

"It cannot make a difference it was the last race of the season, and that it will decide the championship.

"Invariably, whenever there has been a disqualification, there has been a reclassification."

But Ferrari's Nigel Tozzi countered: "This is not the way a Formula One world championship should be won.

"Mr Hamilton himself, potentially the only beneficiary, has said very clearly he does not want to win the championship this way.

"Mr Norbert Haug, head of Mercedes motorsport, has again gone on the record and said McLaren are not appealing in order to claim the championship.

"Mr Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren F1 CEO) in an interview yesterday said 'finding a way to award the world drivers' championship to Lewis retrospectively, is not at all what this is about'.


606: DEBATE
Formula One really is losing its way when it gets to the point that the politics in the sport detract from the racing

CB

"It could be said McLaren are shameless hypocrites devoid of any integrity, or maybe what their representatives have said should be taken at face value.

"If what they want is clarity, then by all means let them have that, but do not allow them to have the world championship this way.

"It would be a serious injustice to Mr Raikkonen should the world title be taken away from him, a fact recognised by Mr Hamilton and Mr (Fernando) Alonso.

"As McLaren are fond of saying: 'The championship should be decided on the track and not in the courtroom'," he concluded.

It is widely expected that the FIA will not change the race classification even if it decides to punish Williams and BMW Sauber and it is unlikely to result in Raikkonen losing out.

And Hamilton has already said that he does not want to win the championship in this fashion.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, former Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher and Britain's last world champion Damon Hill also believe it would be bad for the sport if the championship is settled in this way.

But the trio are united in their belief that McLaren's appeal will not affect the outcome of the title race.

Ecclestone said on Wednesday: "I don't think 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," he told The Times.

"If anybody thinks that is the best thing for Formula One, then I'd have a serious thought about retiring.

"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 if anything does happen at this Court of Appeal, maybe they'll treat it exactly the same as the tyres."