Mercedes have withdrawn their appeal of Nico Rosberg’s British Grand Prix penalty, the team have confirmed.
The German was given a 10 second time penalty post-race after the team were adjudged to have illegally told him to skip seventh gear when a problem with his gearbox developed near the end of yesterday’s race.
As a result, his demotion to third place remains in place with Max Verstappen inheriting second.
In a statement issued today, the team announced that they no longer intended to appeal the decision of the stewards – but will look to have the strict radio regulations at least partially repealed.
For 2016, a limit was imposed on pit-to-car radio messages to ensure that “the driver must drive the car alone and unaided”, as per article 21.7 of the sporting regulations. The FIA had grown frustrated at the amount of driver coaching going on during the course of the race weekend, leading to the introduction of the restrictions.
The stewards ruled that the team were allowed to tell him to change a mode on the steering wheel as it prevented an imminent car failure, however, by later adding that he needed to shift through seventh gear they decided Rosberg had been given outside assistance.
With the race result now confirmed, Rosberg’s championship lead has officially been cut to just one point to teammate Lewis Hamilton going into the Hungarian Grand Prix in two weeks time.
Mercedes’ full statement:
“The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team today decided to withdraw its notice of intention to appeal against the decision of the Stewards of the British Grand Prix.
We were able to prove to the Stewards that a car-stopping gearbox failure was imminent and, as such, were permitted within the rules to advise Nico of the required mode change.
However, the advice to avoid seventh gear was considered to breach TD/016-16, and therefore Article 27.1 of the sporting regulations.
The Team accepts the Stewards’ interpretation of the regulation, their decision and the associated penalty.
During the coming weeks, we will continue discussions with the relevant F1 stakeholders on the subject of the perceived over-regulation of the sport.”
