Formula 1 news
Coulthard loses appeal against disqualification
04 April 2000McLaren-Mercedes driver David Coulthard on Tuesday lost his appeal against disqualification from second place in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Scot and his team lawyers pleaded his case Monday at a one and a half hour hearing at the International Court of Appeal of Grand Prix racing's ruling body FIA, in Paris and said he was optimistic of being reinstated.
But the five man panel made up of Jose Macedo e Cunha of Portugal, Ireland's Reginald Redmond, Spain's Pedro Romero, H.L Duijm from the Netherlands and Belgian chairman Roberti de Winghe saw otherwise.
Coulthard, a non-finisher in the season-opening Australian grand prix, thought he had claimed McLaren's first points of the season in Sao Paulo on March 26 when he finished second behind Ferrari's Michael Schumacher.
But he was disqualified when the front wing of his car failed an inspection.
McLaren claimed the car had been damaged by an uneven Interlagos track.
The FIA panel ruled that it was "the duty of each competitor to prove that his car complies with the regulations in their entirety at all times during an event."
They found that the McLaren argument that the layout and profile of the circuit had been a key factor in damaging the car to be unfounded.
"All the competitors ... had been subjected to the rigours of the circuit in question from the first practice session onwards, and that all steps could thus have been taken to make the necessary adjustments to the cars to allow them to cope with these difficulties," the panel said.
"The International Court of Appeal therefore decided to confirm the Stewards' decision pronouncing the exclusion of David Coulthard from the classification of the 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix," they added.
The FIA decision completes a dreadful start to the Grand Prix season for the once-dominant McLarens with neither Coulthard nor reigning world champion Mika Hakkinen of Finland marking a single point in the first two races.
Their arch-rival Schumacher won both races for Ferrari and with the maximum 20 points, he has already opened up a commanding lead in the world drivers championship standings.
The decision also means Britain's Jenson Button keeps sixth place and becomes the youngest driver in history to score a grand prix point.
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Silverstone |
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