Scuderia Ferrari have decided not to appeal the decision by stewards to not rescind Sebastian Vettel’s penalty during the Mexican Grand Prix for defending in a dangerous manner from Daniel Ricciardo.
Following a teleconference ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the stewards that made the initial decision to hand the penalty to Vettel heard evidence from Ferrari’s Jock Clear that they believed showed the decision was incorrect, with Red Bull Racing also being represented by Christian Horner and Jonathan Wheatley, however the ‘new’ evidence was thrown out.
Clear had shown the stewards GPS data – which stewards said they already had access too and had taken into consideration during their decision – and claimed that Charlie Whiting should have told Max Verstappen to allow Vettel to pass after appearing to gain an advantage by cutting across turn one.
However the stewards determined that whilst Whiting could have indeed made that call to Verstappen, which happened before the move that Vettel pulled on Ricciardo at turn four to earn his own penalty, he did not have to make that call.
Ferrari had made their intentions to appeal after the decision was made to reject their evidence, but as now it has been dropped, it means the ten-second time penalty handed to the German in Mexico will stand, meaning Vettel will remain fifth in the final result.
The Italian outfit and the FIA are not likely to make any more statements on the subject.
