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LONDON - Banning McLaren from this and next year's championship would have been disastrous for rivals Ferrari as well as Formula One, Lewis Hamilton's lawyer said in documents released yesterday.
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) published a transcript of last week's hearing in Paris that fined Hamilton's McLaren team a record US$100 ($140) million and stripped them of all their constructors' points as a result of a spy saga.
The same hearing left 22-year-old British rookie Hamilton, currently leading double world champion team mate Fernando Alonso by two points with three races remaining, clear to fight for the title.
Mark Phillips, representing Hamilton, told FIA's World Motor Sport Council that banning McLaren for two years as threatened would be "an absolute disaster for Formula One".
"The public would lose all confidence in the sport that we all love. It would also be a disaster for Ferrari.
"It begs disbelief that Ferrari could seriously want to see McLaren ejected," he added.
"Their victories would be as hollow as the ones we saw in Indianapolis 2005.
"We respectfully suspect and suggest that racers like Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa would feel cheated if they were to win the world championship after their two main rivals had been thrown out."
Ferrari boss Jean Todt said after last Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, in which Raikkonen led Massa in a Ferrari one-two, that he felt McLaren's punishment to be too soft and would have stripped the drivers of their points as well.
The 2005 US Grand Prix was a six-car race, with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher booed for a hollow victory after all the Michelin-shod teams withdrew for tyre safety reasons.
Phillips also suggested that the sport risked losing a major talent should McLaren be banned, because Hamilton was so closely aligned to the team.
"If McLaren were excluded, Lewis Hamilton would not be able to compete in 2008 and McLaren would lose him as a driver," he declared.
"Perhaps he would drive elsewhere, assuming first he could find a seat and assuming that was a competitive seat.
"But I ask you to remember what he said in his statement," added the lawyer, referring to a signed document that formed part of McLaren's defence but was not published.
"He has wanted to drive for McLaren all of his racing life. He has been there since he was a young boy. He has been supported throughout his career for McLaren and wants to continue racing for McLaren."
- REUTERS
