McLaren and Hamilton face fresh threat from Ferrari

The shadow of "Ferrarigate" descended once again upon Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren team yesterday when the FIA president, Max Mosley, revealed that following Ferrari's violent dissatisfaction with the outcome of last week's World Motor Sport Council hearing, he has referred the matter to the FIA's appeal court.

Ever since McLaren were found guilty of possessing some of Ferrari's intellectual property, but went unpunished because there was no evidence that they had actually used it to make their cars go any faster, Italian sporting organisations have been running in overdrive to have the ruling overturned.

A systematic campaign has now succeeded in putting the pressure back on McLaren. Mosley said he was sending the case to the appeal court of Formula One's governing body to allow Ferrari to present its case. The court could consider reversing the WMSC's decision not to penalise McLaren, it was made clear. Thus the spectre of a possible points deduction or even an outright ban on McLaren from some (if not all) of the remaining races of the 2007 Championship – which Hamilton still leads despite not scoring in Germany recently – has returned to haunt the Anglo-German team.

In a letter to Mosley, Luigi Macaluso, the president of the CSAI (Italy's national sporting authority and the equivalent to the UK's RAC Motor Sports Association), who was present at the WMSC hearing in Paris last Thursday, complained that Ferrari had attended as an observer rather than as an involved party and had therefore not had full right of audience. Macaluso urged Mosley to submit the controversy to the FIA's International Court of Appeal.

Mosley's response, released yesterday, said: "Your letter suggests that

the outcome may have been different if the Council had given Ferrari further opportunities to be heard beyond those that were in fact offered.

"Because of this and the importance of public confidence in the outcome, I will send this matter to the FIA Court of Appeal under Article 23.1 of the FIA statutes with a request that the Court hear both Ferrari and McLaren and any other Championship competitor who so requests and determine whether the decision of the WMSC was appropriate and, if not, substitute such decision as may be just."

Insiders at the FIA suggest that the moment the CSAI made its formal request for an appeal, Mosley had his hands tied and had to comply under the FIA's own statutes.

The FIA appeal court is an independent body, and its pool of judges includes such luminaries as Anthony Scrivener QC. However, under the rules neither the British judge, nor Italy's Francesco de Beaumont, would be eligible to hear the appeal, given the nationalities of the parties concerned.

The appeal hearing is unlikely to take place until late in August.

While indicating his disappointment that the ordeal is not yet over after all, McLaren chief Ron Dennis has reiterated that the team will continue to follow the prescribed procedures and to cooperate to the fullest extent.