Oct.22 (GMM) McLaren decided to appeal the outcome of the 2007 drivers' world championship to avoid the criticism of "fans and formula one insiders", the British team explained on Monday.

The Woking based outfit wants the Court of Appeal to overturn the stewards' decision on Sunday not to sanction a trio of cars that finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton in Sunday's Brazilian grand prix.

Should the three cars be excluded or demoted due to fuel temperature discrepancies, Hamilton could earn the extra two points needed to wrest the title from the grasp of newly crowned world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

"We were surprised at and don't really understand the stewards' decision," McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh was quoted by agencies as saying on Monday.

"Therefore we feel that if we hadn't lodged our intention to appeal, we would surely have been criticised by fans and formula one insiders alike for not supporting our drivers' best interests."

Interestingly, McLaren last month explained that it did not appeal its exclusion from the constructors' championship because it believed it was "in the best interests of the sport".

Whitmarsh denied that McLaren's decision to appeal in this case could be interpreted as sour grapes against the team's former driver, Raikkonen.

"Our argument is with the stewards' decision in relation to the cars of (Nico) Rosberg, (Robert) Kubica and (Nick) Heidfeld. Hence our decision to lodge our intention to appeal," he added.