A sympathetic Helmut Marko has praised Mercedes for their “great gesture” in not taking their 2021 title fight into the courtroom.
Mercedes spent the first few days after the extremely controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix deliberating whether to take their protest case to the International Court of Appeal, following a sudden decision by Race Control to allow only the lapped cars between race leader Lewis Hamilton and title rival Max Verstappen to un-lap themselves.
As a result, this created a one-lap showdown for the title at the Yas Marina circuit, but it was one that left Hamilton, who had dominated the race up until that point, severely disadvantaged given Verstappen used the Safety Car period following Nicholas Latifi’s crash to pit for fresh tyres.