Toto Wolff has decided that Mercedes will not be filing an appeal with FIA after stewards threw out their protest at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021
As Nicholas Latifi crashed into the barrier in lap 53 of the Abu Dhabi GP 2021, with it crashed Lewis Hamilton’s dreams of winning the coveted F1 drivers’ championship title.
However, what really baffled Mercedes and Toto Wolff was the decision making by the FIA and race director Michael Masi. Masi had initially stated that cars wouldn’t be allowed to overtake as the safety car was deployed before allowing five cars to overtake as the race was resumed.
Mercedes To Scrap Move To Appeal Decision In The FIA’s International Court Of Appeal
It was a bewildering decision, one which saw Verstappen ease ahead of Hamilton to win his maiden drivers’ championship title. Toto Wolff and Mercedes then went onto protest the win on the grounds of a breach of Article 48.12 of the FIA’s Sporting Regulations which says, “Any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the Safety Car” once the last lapped car has passed the leader, the Safety Car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap”.
The protest was dismissed by the FIA stewards with a statement being released to explain the decision making. “After consideration, the stewards ruled that Article 15.3 allows the Race Director to control the use of the Safety Car, including deployment and withdrawal.
Acknowledging that Article 48.12 may not have been fully applied, the Article 48.13 argument presented by Red Bull overrides that,” the statement went onto say.
While Mercedes then went onto lodge an intention to appeal, the side has now decided against taking things forward to the FIA’s International Court Of Appeal. Although the Mercedes had 96 hours to determine its next course of action, Toto Wolff, the side’s head honcho has determined that its not prudent to take thing forwards with reports coming in of the side scrapping its appeal.
Wolff has given up on the matter to save the reputation of the sport.