McLaren has confirmed that it has lodged an official appeal against the decision by race stewards at Spa Francorchamps to strip Lewis Hamilton of his win following an incident on the penultimate lap of today's Grand Prix.

"We have no option other than to register our intention to appeal," a spokesperson told reporters this evening.

"We have studied the details and put them before the FIA stewards," he added, reading from a prepared statement.

"They show that after cutting the chicane Lewis lifted off, he was 6 kph slower than Kimi. After conceding the lead to Kimi, Lewis repositioned his car on the right and beat Kimi on the brakes going into the hairpin."

With an appeal unlikely to be heard before the Singapore Grand Prix, it is entirely possible that two more rounds of the World Championship could be contested with the result of the Belgian Grand Prix undecided.

Race fans have reacted angrily to the stewards decision, other than outraged posts on message boards and forums, a number of fans have written to Pitpass expressing their disgust. The fact that it was McLaren's arch-rival Ferrari that benefitted from Hamilton's penalty clearly adding to the spreading feeling of injustice and frustration.

To check out our Belgian GP gallery, click here