Mercedes has issued two protests following today's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, both citing the event’s controversial restart.

The first protest is against Max Verstappen, accusing the Dutchman of a breach of Article 48.8 of the 2021 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, which states that "no driver may overtake another car on the track, including the safety car, until he passes the Line (see Article 5.3) for the first time after the safety car has returned to the pits."

The safety car was deployed in the wake of Nicholas Latifi's crash, and remained in place for several laps.

As the laps counted down race control first deemed that "lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake", before declaring that "lapped cars 4 (Norris), 14, 31, 16 and 5 to overtake safety car".

These were the cars separating Hamilton and Verstappen behind the safety car, and as the last of them passed the safety car, just before it was withdrawn, Verstappen was alongside the Mercedes as early as Turn 12.

Ahead of the restart, Verstappen, who, following the initial deployment of the safety car pitted for softs, continued alongside Hamilton, and though unable to pass the Mercedes i Turn 1 was able to finally pass at Turn 5.

A second protest from the German team is based on Article 48.12, which states that "any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car."

This relates to the fact that while Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were instructed to pass the safety car ahead of the restart, those cars separating the two title protagonists, no such instructions were given to Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll and Mick Schumacher. Indeed, Mercedes appears to feel that waiting for those last three cars to pass the safety car might have meant the race not actually restarting.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Defiant, 12/12/2021 19:11

"@Tom268 although I agree with your comment about Max only being in front for a moment, it is kinda dumb, but it is a rule and if schumi got a penalty for doing it years ago, I see the argument. having said that, I doubt they will hold that up and change a championship for that. The second one, is a bit dodgy, they seemed to apply just part of the rules to suit their needs. I unfortunately am of the opinion that they should have just finished under the safety car and not allowed this controversy. Im sure this is just more for Neflix. Masi needs to go."

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2. Posted by BillH, 12/12/2021 18:34

"I am disappointed with Masi in terms of the decision to have only some lapped cars go through.

The rules state ALL lapped cars or NO lapped cars, if it is unsafe to do so.

That final radio comment broadcast where Wolff asks for a redress and Masi said "it's called motor racing... we went motor racing..." says to me that Masi could have lost it under pressure.

The rules are the rules and need to be applied evenly for the integrity of the competition.

However, Merc may be right but they probably won't win due to the public opinion side of things.

Thats entertainment."

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3. Posted by ZJAY, 12/12/2021 18:18

"I hope they win. I am neither a fan of Hamilton nor Mercedes. What happened is a charade. "

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4. Posted by KKK, 12/12/2021 18:10

"This just confirms that Michael Masi has to resign. He just has no idea ! At one time he says no cars overtake, then he lets 4 thru, just so that it makes it clear for Verstappen to take the lead. Just not right!"

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5. Posted by Tom2681, 12/12/2021 17:25

"Mercedes might have a point with the second protest. If the regulations say "all cars", then it's all cars. The FIA should give... itself... a penalty, then.
The other protest is just plain dumb IMO. Verstappen was only ahead by a few centimeters for half a second on the inside of a corner when Lewis was crawling around. No way they would penalize Max for this."

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