© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Duncan Bagshaw, a partner at the Howard Kennedy law firm, says “it’s very important for Mercedes to give the message that racing is the most important thing to this sport”.
The controversial ending of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that saw the FIA break their own rules and basically gift Max Verstappen the world championship might get its epilogue in court, that is if Mercedes decide to formally appeal.
While the team has until Friday morning to decide, Duncan Bagshaw, a partner at the Howard Kennedy law firm which specialises in international arbitration and litigation, says he believes Mercedes has a case.
“There was a challenge to the FIA [on Sunday after the race] which was resolved very quickly,” Bagshaw told British publication Pitpass.
“The FIA, marking its own homework, perhaps unsurprisingly said that they stood by the decision of the race director Michael Masi.
“Mercedes do have a case, and I think it is quite likely they will take it to a court of arbitration because so much turns on the outcome of these races they may feel they really have no choice.”
The issue at hand is that the FIA did not follow their own Safety Car protocols that require the lapped cars to un-lap themselves, before the race can be restarted on the next lap.
Race director Michael Masi chose to ignore this rule and allowed just the cars between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to move out of the way, before restarting the race and giving Max the title on a silver platter.
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Bagshaw says Mercedes basically needs to fight this in court so that Formula 1 can maintain its legitimacy as a sport.
“This decision was by the race director himself applying a rule under the regulations which is, I would say, very clear and quite explicit about what has to happen in this situation,” he continued.
“Everybody wanted to see that race finish in racing conditions but the rule makes it very clear that any cars that have been lapped by the leader have to be allowed to pass the leading cars and the Safety Car before the race is restarted and he did not allow that to happen.
“It’s very important for Mercedes to give the message that racing is the most important thing to this sport and that they respect the outcome of the race on the track but they must also accept the fact that commercially this is a sport that revolves around money.
“They have obligations to Lewis Hamilton, their team, their sponsors and many other people, it may be not so much they want to challenge this decision, that they want this season to be decided before a committee of arbitrators but simply that they don’t have any choice,” Bagshaw concluded.
