The FIA dismissed the impact of Mercedes’ appeal, saying it would have done nothing to change the result.
Mercedes filed two protests against the FIA for what they deemed as illegal judgment calls during the highly controversial Abu Dhabi GP. The first one was regarding Max Verstappen overtaking Lewis Hamilton when the Safety Car was still in front of the pair.
The second one was regarding the championship itself, with them challenging the intent behind letting only a few cars unlap themselves. Verstappen became champion because of it, while Hamilton was robbed of a surefire win.
The FIA dismissed the impact of Mercedes’ appeal, saying it would have done nothing to change the final result.
As quoted by GP Fans, Peter Bayer, the FIA secretary-general for motorsport and head of the committee investigating the incident, said, “Had the Mercedes protest gone to the Court of Appeal, after being rejected by the stewards, what would have happened?
“I think the judges would have said ‘It’s different in the regulations. He (Race Director Michael Masi) decided that way, so we could just void the result’.”
Indifferent
“But even then, if it were made void, Max would have been world champion,” he continued, referring to the fact that even though the two drivers were tied on points, Verstappen led due to more race victories held.
“The situation was far from perfect and that’s why we’re working on it.
“It’s also about having respect for the race director. My job is to look ahead and see how can we improve things.”
Mercedes was going to take the case to the higher courts. However, they decided not to approach the CAS, which is the court Premier League club Manchester City appealed to overturn their Champions League ban.
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