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BMW points still in danger, Hamilton could be WDC
By Jaime M.
October 22 2007
Despite stewards decided not to penalise BMW-Sauber and Williams-Toyota, the result from the Brazil GP is in doubt. Why? Mclaren have appealed the result for possible irregularities in the fuel temperatures on the BMW and Williams cars. .

The rules say: "No fuel on board the car may be more than ten degrees centigrade below ambient temperature." 

Autosport.com has explained:

"The statement issued by Bauer showed that Heidfeld's fuel was 13 degrees centigrade lower than ambient at his first stop and 12 degrees centigrade lower at his second stop.

Robert Kubica's fuel varied by 14 degrees, 13 degrees and 13 degrees at his three stops; Nico Rosberg's fuel was 13 degrees and 12 degrees out at his two stops and Kazuki Nakajima's was 12 degrees out at his first stop. His second stop was inside the 10-degree limit."

The reason why fuel is not allowed to be lower than 10ºC than ambient is because the lower the temperature, the more dense the fuel, hence the engine gains an slight advantage in power. But with a margin of just 3 or 4ºC it would be quite small (no more than 5 horsepower), and for only around 3 laps before the temperatures of the fuel become normal, especially with all the heat of the track at Interlagos and the one coming from the engine.

The involved teams have claimed that the temperatures they measured from ambient (more specifically the Meteo France service they had contracted) were below FOMs measures (33ºC versus 37ºC). So in case FIA admitted that Meteo France measures were the right ones, then BMW and Williams would be under the legal margin. The problem is the rules don't state which ambient temperature measure is the correct one.

There are precedents of this situation, when in 1995 Schumacher (Benetton) and Coulthard (Williams) were penalized. A few days later FIA rectified and only their teams lost points, reinstating the driver's points.

So it looks fair that the decision taken by FIA is similar to the precedent, although the options of no penalty and penalizing drivers and teams are opened.

From the sources we have, the decision on this matter won't be taken before two months. So we will have to wait a bit till it is revealed who is the final Driver Champion, and if BMW will keep their impressive record of passing the barrier of 100-point in just their 2nd season.

Any news we recieve will be published here as soon as possible. Stay tuned!

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