Kimi Raikkonen has been confirmed as World Champion as the BMW Sauber and Williams teams have escaped penalty after being investigated by the Grand Prix stewards over fuel irregularities.

Kimi Raikkonen has been confirmed as F1 World Champion as the BMW Sauber and Williams teams have escaped penalty after being investigated by Brazilian Grand Prix stewards over fuel irregularities on their cars at the end of Sunday’s Interlagos race.

Under Formula One racing’s technical regulations fuel temperatures are not allowed to fall more than 10 degrees Celsius below ambient air temperature at any time. According to FIA data, Williams and BMW Sauber exceeded this range during the race, but after deliberating for several hours stewards decided the evidence was insufficient to justify sanctions.

Raikkonen won a dramatic race at Interlagos yesterday to seal the drivers' title, after series leader Lewis Hamilton went out of contention with gearbox issues. However, McLaren are expected to appeal the stewards' decision, which if overturned could have serious implications for the 2007 drivers' championship. However 'ambient' temperatures are relatively difficult to specifically define at a racecourse, and this whole process isn't at all clearly defined within the FIA regulations. F1 insiders believe that the ambient temperature fluctuations of the teams in question were well inside reasonable expectations, meaning that an appeal by McLaren is very unlikely to succeed.

In the Brazilian Grand Prix Nico Rosberg finished fourth for Williams, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld fifth and sixth respectively for BMW Sauber. If they were to be disqualified, Lewis Hamilton would move up to from seventh to fourth, giving him enough points to beat Kimi Raikkonen to the title.