December 16, (THEWILL) – Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One racing team has dropped their appeal against Sir Lewis Hamilton’s disputed championship loss to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the end of the Formula One season.
Despite leading by 11 seconds with four laps to go in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton was denied a victory due to an incident and a decision by race control to allow lapped vehicles between him and Verstappen to overtake, giving the Dutchman the lead.
Mercedes filed an appeal after the race, which was turned down by the stewards, but they chose to file another appeal later. The championship team has now stated that they would not pursue the subject further in a statement released on Thursday.
The statement read: “The reason we protested the race result on Sunday was because the Safety Car regulations were applied in a new way that affected the race result, after Lewis had been in a commanding lead and on course to win the World Championship.
“We appealed in the interest of sporting fairness, and we have since been in a constructive dialogue with the FIA and Formula 1 to create clarity for the future, so that all competitors know the rules under which they are racing, and how they will be enforced.
“Thus, we welcome the decision by the FIA to install a commission to thoroughly analyse what happened in Abu Dhabi and to improve the robustness of rules, governance and decision making in Formula 1. We also welcome that they have invited the teams and drivers to take part.
“The Mercedes-AMG Petronas team will actively work with this commission to build a better Formula 1 – for every team and every fan who loves this sport as much as we do. We will hold the FIA accountable for this process and we hereby withdraw our appeal.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
