Norbert Haug has conceded that former McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen is a worthy 2007 world champion.
The Woking based team is appealing Brazilian GP stewards’ inaction over the ‘cool fuel’ issue, and will accept the decision if the title is later this month handed from Raikkonen, who drives for Ferrari, to McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton.
Haug, who is the competition director for Mercedes-Benz, admits that it was frustrating to see Hamilton and his teammate Fernando Alonso fail to win in Brazil last month despite leading the titles for most of the season.
But the German told sport1.de: “We also have to see things realistically. Had Kimi’s car not repeatedly failed this season, his points deficit before the last two races would not have been 17 points.
“He deserves the title, so again I say congratulations to him,” Haug added.
Haug nonetheless pointed out that Hamilton and Alonso collectively scored more points in 2007 than did Ferrari’s Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.
He also insists that a McLaren “never retired from a race with a technical defect”.
