From GMM

The FIA International Court of Appeal on Tuesday ruled that McLaren's appeal against the controversial Spa-Francorchamps penalty involving Lewis Hamilton was not admissible.

"Article 152 of the International Sporting Code states that drive-through penalties are 'not susceptible to appeal'," formula one's governing body announced in a statement.

Lawyers for McLaren had argued that, while drive-through penalties are not susceptible to appeal, 25-second time penalties are.

But in its ruling released on Tuesday, the FIA said that even though the penalty took the form of a time penalty because the incident took place near the end of the race, that did not "change the nature of the penalty".

The FIA also rejected McLaren's claim that the precedent of a successfully appealed penalty involving Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi last year be followed.

The judges said the Fuji case was not relevant because "none of the parties concerned had raised the inadmissibility of the appeal in that case.

"Consequently that judgment does not present itself as settled law with respect to this question and does not bind the court in the present case," the court said.

McLaren was ordered to pay court costs.

Felipe Massa is therefore declared the official winner of the Grand Prix of Belgium, with Lewis Hamilton in 3rd place.