William’s Drop Appeal Against Massa’s Brazil GP Exclusion
After almost a week of deliberating Williams have decided that they will not be appealing against the exclusion of Massa from the final result at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Massa was disqualified from the final standings shortly after the race was concluded, the FIA decided to disqualify him due to an overheated rear tyre on the grid which was noted by the FIA and stewards before race got under way. The checks ran on the grid showed that Massa’s right rear tyre was 27 degrees Celsius above the allowed temperature set after the disintegration of Sebastian Vettel’s tyre during the Belgium Grand Prix.
The team decided that they would not appeal to avoid any further disruption and cost to the team despite them not agreeing with the ruling and believing that they had enough evidence for the decision to be overturned. Their statement is as follows “A hearing date is unlikely to be available until after the end of the season, impacting a time when the team wishes to turn its attention to its 2016 campaign,Given the financial climate of the sport, and the fact that the decision does not impact the team’s constructors’ championship position, it has been decided that this would be an unnecessary cost to endure.”
I made almost the same point regarding what I believed Williams would do following the race in my Brazil Talking points. At a time when costs are at the forefront of Formula One and a team like Williams inclusion on the grid is on a knife-edge their decision makes perfect sense, why waste money better spent elsewhere on a small victory against the FIA that will gain Williams nothing. Despite Williams not taking it up with the FIA it makes you wonder why Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton were not penalised for a very similar rule breach during the Italian Grand Prix. On that occasion the stewards took far longer to decide Hamilton’s fate which resulted in his position standing, there needs to be come continuity race to race so all teams feel as though they are getting a fair crack at the whip, especially given the current power struggle that seems to be materializing in the sport.
By: Chris Laker
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