Abu Dhabi, December 12, 2012 : .Mercedes lodged protest against Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix’s final classification.
Red Bulls’ Max Vertappen won the race, and claimed the title of World Drivers Championship.Mercedes protested against the Competition’s classification, citing alleged violations of Articles 48.8 & 48.12 of FIA Sporting Regulations.
Hamilton looked most likely to win the all-deciding race victory, with a commanding lead over Verstappen.However, Hamilton was unable to pass Nicholas Latifi, who crashed six laps before the finish, prompting a Safety Car.
Red Bull called Verstappen to the pits, and fitted him soft tyres.Hamilton didn’t pit, and continued to ride 38-lap-old hard tires.
With one lap remaining, the race was reopened with Verstappen having a substantial tyre lead.According to the official report, he caught the Mercedes driver and took victory.
Two protests were launched by Mercedes within 30 minutes after the race ended.One protest was against the Competition’s classification.It alleged that Article 48.12, 2021 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, had been violated.
This rule states that: “If the Clerk of the Course considers it safe, and the message “Lapped Cars May NOW Overtake” has been sent via the official messaging network to all Competitors, then any cars lapped by the Leader will have to pass both the cars on their laps and the Safety Car.
This will not apply to cars lapped when they cross the Line at lap’s end during which they have crossed the Safety Car Line for the second consecutive time since the Safety Car was activated.
After passing the Safety Car and cars in the lead lap, these cars must continue around the track at a safe speed and not overtake other cars.
“While they’re overtaking cars, in order for this to be done safely, the cars at the leading lap must stay on the race line, unless it is impossible to deviate from it.
“Unless the clerk of the course considers the presence of the Safety Car is still necessary, once the last lapped car has passed the leader the Safety Car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap.
“If the clerk of the course considers track conditions are unsuitable for overtaking the message ‘OVERTAKING WILL NOT BE PERMITTED’ will be sent to all Competitors via the official messaging system.”
During the race, initially, race control issued a message saying lapped cars would not be allowed to overtake.At the time, five cars were between Hamilton and Verstappen.
They then said those five cars would be allowed to unlap themselves.By the time racing got underway, there was just one racing lap left – which was enough for Verstappen to catch and pass Hamilton to win.
The second protest is regarding the alleged breach of Article 48.8 of the Sporting Regulations.This rule says “no driver may overtake another car on the track, including the Safety Car, until he passes the Line (see Article 5.3) for the first time after the safety car has returned to the pits.”
A spokesperson from Mercedes told the media: “As has no doubt been reported, we lodged a formal protest within the required 30 minute time window after the end of the race.We will not make any further comment on the detail of that until the hearing has been conducted.”
Meanwhile, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner said: “We are disappointed there has been a protest, but we trust in the FIA.”
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