The media is going crazy with the Lewis Hamilton penalty, but i was shocked to see a super Lewis Hamilton worship article in Mail Today, but the universe made sense a few minutes later, the article was a guest article from Guardian UK. It seems the whole of UK is going crazy over the penalty, cant blame them though, after the great debacle that Jenson Button turned out to be, they cant afford to lose Lewis Hamilton.

Martin Whitmarsh confirmed the appeal : “Following our decision to register our intention to appeal the penalty handed out to Lewis Hamilton by the FIA Stewards at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix, we hereby confirm that we have now lodged notice of appeal. Lewis describes the incident as follows.”

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton gave his explanation :

“In the closing stages of the race I was catching Kimi consistently, lap by lap, and with three laps remaining I got close enough to attempt to overtake him on the entry to the last chicane. I managed to get slightly ahead of him in the braking area for the first apex of the chicane. He fought back approaching the second apex - but, in doing so, he left no room for me on the inside line. The only way for me to avoid a collision was therefore to cut inside the second apex.

“I came out of the second apex in front of Kimi and so I momentarily lifted-off on the straight, to ensure that Kimi got back in front. The team also came on the radio and instructed me to allow Kimi to repass, which I had already done. As a result, Kimi crossed the start/finish line ahead of me and 6.7km/h quicker than me.

“After allowing Kimi to completely repass, I crossed from the left side of the track to the right side of the track, passing behind Kimi in the process. I then attacked Kimi on the inside of the first corner, and successfully outbraked him.”

Thats his side of the story, McLaren further clarified that they had asked the Race Control if they were Ok with Lewis Hamilton, but i am not too sure if the Race Control even has powers in these cases. I would also like to know if any team in the past has ever appealed a “Drive Through Penalty” ?