MAY 18, 2010

Mercedes drops appeal to Monaco penalty

Mercedes GP has decided to drop the appeal against the penalty imposed on Michael Schumacher at the Monaco GP, after the FIA agreed to discussions to clean up the safety car regulations.

Schumacher took sixth place from Fernando Alonso in the final corner of the race, between where the safety car pulled into the pits and the start-finish line. Mercedes GP believed that the regulations allowed for this, but the FIA interrupted it as illegal as article 40.13 of the rules states that no overtaking is allowed if the race finishes behind the safety car, saying, "If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking."

Mercedes GP argued that as the race did not finish under the safety car because there were messages from race control that said "Safety Car in the lap" and "Track Clear", and therefore they saw it as the race being restarted briefly before the flag.

After being given the 20 second penalty and being dropped from the points on Sunday night, Mercedes GP notified the FIA that it planned to appeal the decision. The team needed to confirm this today, but has instead decided against it.

In a statement today the team said it was satisfied that the FIA has stated that it will look to clarify the regulation at the next Sporting Working Group meeting.