Sao Paulo, October 22:

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen has kept the Formula One championship title he won after race stewards cleared Williams and BMW of technical irregularities.

Both Williams and BMW had earlier been investigated after stewards noticed that the fuel in the cars was more than the 10 degrees below the outside temperature that are allowed. They were finally cleared six and a half hours after the race had finished on Sunday.

Raikkonen beat Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren-Mercedes teammate Fernando Alonso to the title by one point after winning Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. Alonso was third and Hamilton seventh. However, as Williams driver Nico Rosberg finished fourth with the BMWs of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld fifth and sixth, respectively, Hamilton would have been promoted to fourth if all three had been disqualified. Such a decision would have resulted in Hamilton taking the title.

Raikkonen ended the season as it had started for him, as he also won the season-opening race in Australia.

McLaren-Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who went into the race with a seven-point lead over Raikkonen and a four-point lead over Alonso, finished a disappointing seventh and slipped down to second in the drivers’ standings. Raikkonen finished the season on 110 points, one more than Hamilton and Alonso. Raikkonen’s team-mate Felipe Massa was second in the race ahead of Alonso.

A combination of driving errors and bad luck saw Hamilton throw the championship away. Hamilton’s problems began on the first lap as he tried to overtake Alonso. The Briton ran wide and lost several places, coming back in eighth place. On the fourth lap, he again ran wide, but

worse was to follow as he suddenly slowed down on lap eight and seemingly could do nothing as car after car raced past. He suddenly found his speed again, but at this stage was down to 18th.

The young McLaren driver then started a furious chase, overtaking one or two cars per lap. Up front Massa and Raikkonen were increasing their lead from Alonso. Local hero Massa was the first to go into the pits and many fans were expecting Raikkonen, who came in shortly afterwards, to rejoin the race in first place, but rather surprisingly Raikkonen came out behind the Brazilian.

When Raikkonen pitted for the second time with 18 laps to go after having been able to stay out for two laps longer than Massa, he rejoined in first place, but with Massa close enough on his tail to avoid any suggestion of impropriety.

The two Ferrari’s then comfortably set their pace for the remaining laps, with Alonso not having enough speed to put them under any pressure. Raikkonen won the championship with 110 points from Hamilton and Alonso who both have 109, with the Briton classified second on results. Ferrari also won the constructors’ championship ahead of BMW.