© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says if the team’s appeal “would have been judged in a regular court it is almost guaranteed we would have won”.
Today Mercedes announced they will not appeal the stewards’ decision to dismiss their protest over the irregular decisions that were made in the final laps of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and that allowed Max Verstappen to become the world champion.
However at the media conference afterwards Toto Wolff said the team believes they had a “strong case”.
“Yes indeed, we believe we had a very strong case,” the Austrian explained.
“If you look at it from a legal side if it would have been judged in a regular court it is almost guaranteed we would have won.
“But the problem with the ICA is the way it is structured. The FIA can’t really mark their own homework. And there is a difference between being right and obtaining justice.”
He also gave his comments on fans being frustrated by Mercedes not pursuing this further.
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“I can understand the frustrations of many and to be honest, I am also in two minds between my perspective and my judgement on the legal position, and my realism of the outcome of such proceedings.
“As I said before, there’s a difference between being right and obtaining justice. And I don’t think that at the moment we are set up, in terms of our governance, to end up in a situation that would have given us remedy, that would have reinstalled a result that was taken away from Lewis before the last lap of the race.
“And that’s why, heavy-hearted, we have decided not to appeal because we wouldn’t have got the result.
“Now I think we have the right tools in hand to make sure that the decision-making going forward is better and we will be holding the FIA and the decision-makers accountable for making the sport and the decision-making more robust and consistent,” Wolff concluded.
