The court bill accrued by the lawyers from Ferrari and the FIA will cost McLaren at least $500,000, but as much as double that amount, according to reports.

The bill, which accompanies the International Court of Appeal's rejection of its Lewis Hamilton penalty appeal, is another slap in the face of the British team in the eyes of that country's press corps.

"It would have saved so much time and money to have declared that (inadmissibility) to be the case ... a week ago," the Daily Express said.

The Independent claims throwing out the appeal because it was inadmissible is evidence of the FIA taking the "easy way out" in the face of deeper questions about governance.

The Mirror quotes British F1 legend Sir Stirling Moss as saying: "Formula one is no longer a sport and that's one of the worst things you can say."

Championship leader Hamilton arrived in Singapore yesterday wearing the same suit he wore in the Paris hearing.

The 23-year-old then sat on the cockpit of a mock McLaren in a shopping mall as youngsters played a F1 simulator.

"Local sources confirmed that the recreational machine was not fitted with electronic stewards," The Guardian newspaper sarcastically noted.

Source: GMM