In what will come as a shock to most and what goes directly against whatever Mercedes GP and Ross Brawn have had to say about the incident so far, Mercedes GP team just announced that they will not be appealing the FIA decision to grant a 20 second penalty to Michael Schumacher for the incident on the final lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.
The move seems to be a late reaction to a realisation that they had a losing appeal which is quite contrary to popular opinion on the Internet and press. The press release in its full glory follows, sad day for Michael Schumacher and Mercedes and the sport of formula one. Maybe green flags would be redefined as stop racing.
The press release also addresses the charges of bias against Damon Hill, the team shares no such feelings.
Mercedes Press Release :
Brackley/Stuttgart
18 May 2010
2010 MONACO GRAND PRIX
On the final lap of the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS instructed our drivers, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, to race from safety car line one until the finish line as permitted under articles 40.7 and 40.11.
MERCEDES GP PETRONAS were fully aware of article 40.13 which states that no overtaking is permitted if the race finishes under safety car conditions. However we believed that the combination of the race control messages ‘Safety Car in this lap’ and ‘Track Clear’ and the green flags and lights shown by the marshals after safety car line one indicated that the race was not finishing under the safety car and all drivers were free to race.
This opinion appears to have been shared by the majority of the teams with cars in the top ten positions who also gave their drivers instructions to race to the finish line.
It was clear from our discussions with the stewards after the race that they understood the reasons for our interpretation and acknowledged that this was a new and previously untested situation but ultimately disagreed with our interpretation.
MERCEDES GP PETRONAS would like to emphasise that we fully support the inclusion of past drivers on the stewards panel and are completely satisfied that the Monaco Grand Prix stewards acted professionally, impartially and properly in this matter.
The FIA has agreed to include article 40.13 on the agenda of the next Sporting Working Group for discussion and to consider the scale of post race penalties. We believe that the 20 second penalty imposed on Michael to be disproportionate in the circumstances.
Whilst we cannot be happy with the outcome, we are pleased that the FIA has recognised the reasons for our interpretation. Therefore in the best interests of the sport, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS will not be submitting an appeal.
Image : Mercedes GP Media
Come on dude stop complaining:) I guess they realized they did not have a case. Schumi has other races where he can win cleanly.
Also, though I agree that yours is the only F1 blog in my RSS feed but I read around after this incident and the opinion is pretty divided. In fact just after the race the commentators were saying that what Schumi did was wrong its only when Brawn/Schumi started reading between lines in the rule that fans started saying they have a case.
But the fact is popular opinion does not really mean much when you know you have violated a rule.
Abhilash Kushwaha
19 May 10 at 2:56 am
If you think it was a clear case , I would suggest you have a look here, he had some good evidence and a good chance at the appeal.
The only downside to the appeal was a silly FIA rule that marshall decisions cannot be appealed, but there was some rumour that they were only appealing the interpretation of the rule. Its possible they realised later that it was not possible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLEUdCHUous
The opinion was divided among smart people, because race control had messed up. There were not supposed to be green flags or safety car in messages. They were in violation of rule 40.11
Also Rule 40.11 :
When the clerk of the course decides it is safe to call in the safety car the message “SAFETY CAR IN THIS LAP” will be displayed on the timing monitors and the car’s orange lights will be extinguished This will be the signal to the teams and drivers that it will be entering the pit lane at the end of that lap.
At this point the first car in line behind the safety car may dictate the pace and, if necessary, fall more than ten car lengths behind it.
In order to avoid the likelihood of accidents before the safety car returns to the pits, from the point at which the lights on the car are turned out drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration or braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart.
As the safety car is approaching the pit entry the yellow flags and SC boards will be withdrawn and replaced by waved green flags with green lights at the Line. These will be displayed until the last car crosses the Line.
Formula One Addict
19 May 10 at 4:54 am