Source; YouTube
FIA’s head of F1 Peter Bayer says that had Mercedes gone to the Court of Appeal, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix could have been voided, but Max Verstappen would have remained champion.
After the controversial ending of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which saw race director Michael Masi ignore the rules and protocols of the Safety Car, costing Lewis Hamilton the race and title win, Mercedes announced their intention to launch an appeal.
A few days later Mercedes withdrew the appeal after being assured that the FIA would investigate the situation and take appropriate action.
One of the reasons why Mercedes decided not to appeal was the fact that they believed the results of the race would not be overturned, even if they won.
FIA’s newly appointed head of F1 Peter Bayer now explains a possible outcome.
“Had the Mercedes protest gone to the Court of Appeal, after being rejected by the stewards, what would have happened?” he told Austrian journalist Gerhard Kuntschick.
If you like SilverArrows.Net, consider supporting us by buying us a coffee!
“I think the judges would have said: ‘It’s different in the regulations, he decided that way, so we could just void the result’.
“But even then – if it were cancelled – Max Verstappen would have been world champion [because even though they were level on points ahead of Abu Dhabi, he had one win more than Lewis].
“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, how can we improve things?” Bayer concluded.
It’s important to note that one of Verstappen’s wins happened at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, which was never raced under green flag conditions.
The race finished after a few laps behind a Safety Car due to heavy rain. The final results were basically the results from qualifying and drivers were awarded half points.
