'It would be a serious injustice to Raikkonen were the championship to be taken away from him,' Nigel Tozzi told a hearing of International Automobile Federation's (FIA) Court of Appeal.

McLaren are appealing against the action of stewards at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. The stewards failed 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-ever champion.

The Finn beat Hamilton by a single point at the end of the 17-race season. A decision by the four judges - John Cassidy (US), Vassilis Koussis (Greece), Jose Macedo e Cunha (Portugal) and Jan Stovicek (Czech Republic) - was expected yesterday.

'It would be highly damaging for the sport if the title were to be 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.'

He 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. This is 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. Hamilton himself has said he wants to win the title on the track.

McLaren's lawyer Ian Mill had earlier called for the British rookie to be promoted.

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

'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 US$100million (S$145 million) and stripped of all their constructors' points in September in a spying controversy involving Ferrari.

The FIA 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 title race.

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 are disqualified, the driver loses the points as well. In the other case, the drivers were offered immunity if they assisted the FIA.'

REUTERS