Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton will continue to battle for the 2007 drivers' championship after the McLaren drivers escaped penalty on Thursday in the protracted World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris.

F1's governing body, however, has otherwise come down hard on Ron Dennis' Woking based team, disqualifying it from the 2007 constructors' championship and imposing a record (US) $100m fine. McLaren will also need to have its next challenger cleared by the FIA before it is allowed to race in 2008.

With BMW-Sauber unable to bridge the points gap to Ferrari in the final four races of the season, it means the Maranello based marque is provisionally the 2007 champion. BMW's Mario Theissen at Spa-Francorchamps, however, seemed unimpressed with the news that his team would secure second in the championship with such a ruling.

"Even if the history books say something different, for me we will always be in the third place, because two teams were better than us," said the German. (GMM)