Mercedes' appeal following Max Verstappen's dramatic world championship win at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix rejected
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Updated 12/12/2021 at 20:25 GMT
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was crowned champion after passing Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The race was under the safety car, but resumed with one lap remaining in hugely controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Hamilton had old tyres and could not defend the position.
Verstappen beats Hamilton on final lap of 2021 to win maiden F1 title
The stewards have dismissed Mercedes’ appeal against Max Verstappen’s win at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Verstappen was crowned F1 world champion in dramatic fashion, as he passed Lewis Hamilton on the final lap after the field had been brought together by a safety car.
Hamilton was on course for an eighth world title until a crash by Nicholas Latifi brought the field together.
Verstappen and Red Bull’s celebrations were temporarily halted, as Mercedes lodged two appeals, one concerning the overtaking of the back markers and the other for Verstappen for overtaking Hamilton behind the safety car.
The stewards dismissed the second, despite saying Verstappen had moved ahead of Hamilton for a short period.
A statement read: "The stewards determine that although Car 33 did at one stage, for a very short period of time, move slightly in front of Car 44, at a time when both cars where accelerating and braking, it moved back behind Car 44 and it was not in front when the Safety Car period ended."
The first appeal, with regard to only some of the backmarkers being allowed to unlap themselves, was the more contentious of the two.
Mercedes took legal counsel into the appeal, but the stewards dismissed their claim - allowing Verstappen to celebrate his first world title.
A statement from the FIA read: "Article 15.3 allows the Race Director to control the use of the safety car, which in our determination includes its deployment and withdrawal.
"Although Article 48.12 may not have been applied fully, in relation to the safety car returning to the pits at the end of the following lap, Article 48.13 overrides that and once the message 'Safety Car in this lap' has been displayed, it is mandatory to withdraw the safety car at the end of that lap.
"That notwithstanding Mercedes’ request that the Stewards remediate the matter by amending the classification to reflect the positions at the end of the penultimate lap, this is a step that the Stewards believe is effectively shortening the race retrospectively, and hence not appropriate.
"Accordingly, the Protest is dismissed."
There is still the option of Mercedes taking this further in the coming days.
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