Mercedes go to court after losing appeals

Lewis Hamilton. Pic/AFP

Mercedes lost both of its protests after Lewis Hamilton lost the Formula One world title to Max Verstappen on the final lap of the last race at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

After losing the protests, Mercedes filed for reconsideration to the International Court of Appeal. Verstappen overtook Hamilton on Lap 58 in thrilling style after a crash involving Nicholas Latifi brought out the safety car with just a few laps left and confusion surrounded the restart.

One of the lost protests was whether Verstappen had broken rules by passing Hamilton before the safety car period had ended, when they were jostling next to each other waiting for the restart.

"Although Car 33 [Verstappen] did at one stage, for a very short period of time, move slightly in front of Car 44 [Hamilton], at a time when both cars where accelerating and braking, it moved back behind Car 44," stewards concluded. "It was not in front when the Safety Car period ended [i.e. at the line]. Accordingly, the Protest is dismissed."

The other protest concerned the restart procedure and the number of lapped cars overtaking the safety car, having been given the green light to do so.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever