Mercedes has confirmed that it intends appealing the Abu Dhabi stewards dismissal of its protest.

"We have lodged our intention to appeal Document 58, the decision of the stewards to dismiss the team’s protest,” said a Mercedes spokesperson.

Document 58 relates to the second protest lodged by the German team at the end of today's race, that relating to the decision to allow just four cars- those separating race leader Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen - to pass the safety ahead of its withdrawal for the restart.

Had the lapped cars of Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll and Mick Schumacher been instructed to pass the safety car it is likely that this would have taken the race into Lap 58 thereby leaving no opportunity for the race to resume. Had this been the case Lewis Hamilton would have won.

Article 48.12 of the sporting regulations states that "if the clerk of the course considers it safe to do so, and the message 'lapped cars may now overtake' has been sent to all competitors via the official messaging system, any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car."

While article 48.12 of the sporting regulations says that "once the last lapped car has passed the leader, the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap".

However, in this case the race was restarted at the end of the same lap.

However, the stewards claim a separate rule allows the race director to control the safety car, which "includes its deployment and withdrawal".

They added: "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.

Mercedes call for the matter to be amended by taking the positions at the end of the penultimate lap, said the stewards "is a step that the stewards believe is effectively shortening the race retrospectively, and hence not appropriate".

The German team has 96 hours in which to decide whether it will proceed and formally lodge an appeal with the FIA’s International Court of Appeal.

The team's other protest, which related to Verstappen's actions following the safety car's withdrawal and ahead of the restart was dismissed.

As it ponders where to go from here, Mercedes has yet to issue the usual post-race press release, while Lewis Hamilton did not attend the official post-race press conference.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 13/12/2021 17:44

"Litigation makes the outcome either way even worse. F1 opened Pandora's Box and Pandora's Box they will get.

A boring just end is better than a dramatic finish in question."

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2. Posted by Stitch431, 13/12/2021 17:19

"@Kenji I agree that Mercedes should fire Toto. But for Michael Masi to call Gary Connely as a steward for the last two races was very wrong. Connely has ruled against Verstappen throughout the 5 years Max has been in F1. This is a clear bias."

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3. Posted by kenji, 13/12/2021 11:50

"@ Hobgoblin....To be consistent, no. It's my opinion that none of them should be able to go direct anyway. Can the Manchester United team manager go direct to the match referee during a game? Same horse different jockey. One of the reasons that I have singled out Wolff is his arrogance and air of entitlement, IMPO. Horner is a lightweight by comparison."

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4. Posted by Hobgoblin, 13/12/2021 9:16

"@kenji - "If anyone should go surely it has to be Wolff. His pathetic attempts to bully and badger the Race Director to bend to his domination should not be allowed" - but Christian Horner's attempts to do the same are acceptable are they?

"

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5. Posted by Burton, 13/12/2021 9:12

"It should actually be Ferrari protesting because they didn't remove Carlos' backmarkers and so he was prevented from racing the leaders. Not that it would happen after the engine secret deal, but you know... :P"

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6. Posted by Grumpy Grandad, 13/12/2021 7:28

"The solution is simple, make the race result for Max and Lewis null and void. Then the championship could be decided on the results as they stood after the race in Saudi. Then the World Champion would be, errm, Max Verstappen."

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7. Posted by kenji, 13/12/2021 2:14

"@ Stitch431...If anyone should go surely it has to be Wolff. His pathetic attempts to bully and badger the Race Director to bend to his domination should not be allowed. Charlie Whiting was a great race director and people keep invoking his name as being something 'god like' but that's ridiculous. No one could possibly know what he would've done under the same circumstances. Michael Masi has the worlds worst job and IMO he has done an excellent job given the people he has to try and work with from the teams. I don't believe for one minute that he is biased. His condemnation by the social media mob and certain F1 fans across a wide spectrum is where the bias originates."

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8. Posted by Stitch431, 13/12/2021 0:53

"Given the fact that Masi did follow up on Toto's calls so many times this year, it is a miracle that he let the dice roll in the opposite direction this time. Toto should be a man and accept his loss as Lewis did and come back next year to try again. Hopefully this time fair and square on the track. As for Masi, I would not be unhappy to see him go and get a stronger, unbiased person in return. Someone that takes the decisions and does not ask for Toto's permission. On top of that, a race director who does not call stewards that come from the country of one of the title contenders. Unbiased in my book is something different. Back to Toto then, I mean, coming to the race with a lawyer ... This should be racing and not the next episode of law and order. "

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9. Posted by Italian Job, 13/12/2021 0:15

"@Roli
I'm not convinced that Masi did it for "show" - think back to Saudi when he was "pushing buttons" or something whilst on the chatterbox with Toto. I'm thinking along the lines that on both occasions he lost it and dropped the ball - witness the contradiction today (lapped cars will not repass, then some were allowed to).
Also, I don't know whose bright idea it was to open the two way radio feed with the teams to the outer world, but now that they have opened that channel they'll find it difficult to close it down. "

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10. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 12/12/2021 23:37

"And just for a change, the Dutch win on penalties 😀😀"

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11. Posted by KKK, 12/12/2021 23:27

"And so they should. Again, the rules were "bent" for the sake of the "show". Masi should hang his head in shame."

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Mercedes lodges intent to appeal

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