McLaren's appeal against Lewis Hamilton's 25-second penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix has been rejected.
Hamilton strongly pressed his case at Monday's appeal to the FIA in Paris as he aimed to overturn his punishment for cutting a chicane at Spa.
The 23-year-old was demoted into third, with Felipe Massa handed the victory.
The five judges ruled that the appeal was inadmissible and so Hamilton's four-point deduction stands, leaving him one point clear in the title race.
If successful, Hamilton would have seen his lead increase over Ferrari's Massa to seven points.
However, has the appeal been heard it is possible the penalty against Hamilton could have increased.
"Article 152 of the International Sporting Code states that drive-through penalties are 'not susceptible to appeal'," the FIA said in a statement.
"Having heard the explanations of the parties, the court has concluded that the appeal is inadmissible."
And after Tuesday's verdict, Hamilton said: "People will probably expect me to be depressed about today's result, but that isn't me.
"All I want to do now is put this matter behind me and get on with what we drivers do best: racing each other.
"We're racers, we're naturally competitive and we love to overtake. Overtaking is difficult, and it feels great when you manage to pull off a great passing manoeuvre.
"If it pleases the spectators and TV viewers, it's better still. So I'm disappointed, yes, but not depressed."
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren's chief operating officer, added: "We are naturally disappointed with today's verdict, and to have received no ruling on the substance of our appeal.
"No-one wants to win Grands Prix in court; but we felt that Lewis had won the Belgian Grand Prix, on track, in an exciting and impressive manner.
"Our legal team and witnesses calmly explained this, as well as our belief that the appeal should be admissible, to the FIA International Court of Appeal.
"It nonetheless decided that our appeal was inadmissible. We will now concentrate on the remaining four races of the 2008 Formula 1 season."
The appeal court judges were faced with two decisions.
They first had to consider whether McLaren's appeal was admissible, as Formula One rules do not allow teams to appeal against drive-through penalties.
The penalty given to Hamilton was technically a drive-through penalty.
However, as it was issued retrospectively McLaren barrister Mark Philips QC had argued that no actual drive-through took place, so the appeal should be considered.
Secondly, the judges had to decide if Hamilton sufficiently surrendered the advantage he had gained when cutting the chicane.
The Englishman was battling with Massa's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen at the Spa circuit when he cut the Bus Stop chicane, resulting in him overtaking the Finnish driver.
Despite allowing Raikkonen to immediately reclaim the lead, Hamilton then overtook the Ferrari driver at the next corner to go back in front.
As video footage of the incident was shown, Hamilton told the court he was trying to avoid crashing into Raikkonen.
"We had a great battle and there was no need to take stupid risks, so I had to cut the chicane," he said.
"I've since studied the footage about 10 times and I can remember it vividly like it was yesterday.
"I believe I then gave the advantage back. I honestly, hand on heart, feel I did so."
Whitmarsh told reporters he believed the judges were "confident of our facts" following the hearing.
"Based on the evidence we saw at the time, and from subsequent analysis, we believe any advantage was ceded," he added.
"Therefore it's even more reason to get those points back."
Hamilton has since left France for Singapore ahead of Sunday's first ever night race.
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