12/12/2021
NEWS STORY
The Abu Dhabi stewards have dismissed Mercedes protest of Max Verstappen's race win.
The parties were summoned at 19:45 hrs local time, with Ron Meadows and Andrew Shovlin representing Mercedes along with Paul Harris, the team's legal counsel. Red Bull was represented by Jonathan Wheatley.
The parties referred to the documents submitted and none of the parties submitted further evidence or initiated the hearing of additional persons or conducting further investigations.
Mercedes claimed that Verstappen overtook Hamilton during the Safety Car period at 18:32hrs, in breach of Article 48.8 of the 2021 Formula One Sporting Regulations.
Red Bull argued that Hamilton was not "overtaken" by Verstappen, rather that both cars were "on and off the throttle" and that there were "a million precedents" under safety car where cars had pulled alongside then moved back behind the car that was in front.
Having considered the various statements made by the parties, the stewards determined that although Verstappen did at one stage, for a very short period of time, move slightly in front of Hamilton, at a time when both cars where accelerating and braking, it moved back behind and it was not in front when the safety car period ended (i.e. at the line).
Accordingly, the protest was dismissed and the protest deposit was not refunded.
Competitors were reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.
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