Mercedes are still contemplating whether or not to appeal against Michael Schumacher’s penalty. Schumacher was penalised after the race on Sunday after he was deemed to have breached rule 40.13 when he passed Fernando Alonso on the last lap. He was subsequently issued with a post-race drive-through penalty, in reality meaning 20 seconds was added to his overall time dropping him from 6th to 12th.
Mercedes has 48 hours to formalise the application to appeal the decision. “No decision has been taken as yet,” a spokesperson for Mercedes said.
“With regard to the penalty given to Michael, we believed that the track had gone green and the race was not finishing under a safety car when article 40.13 clearly would have applied,” team principal Ross Brawn explained to ESPN. “The reason for the safety car had been removed, the FIA had announced ‘Safety Car in this lap’ early on lap 78 and the track had been declared clear by race control.
“This was further endorsed when the marshals showed green flags and lights after safety car line one. On previous occasions when it has been necessary to complete a race under a safety car, full course yellows are maintained, as in Melbourne 2009.
“On the last lap, we therefore advised our drivers that they should race to the line and Michael made his move on Fernando for sixth place.”
