The Times has learned that Mercedes, led by Toto Wolff, are considering withdrawing their protest. On Sunday night, the team indicated that they wanted to challenge the decision, but now understand that the reputation of the sport is at stake.
After the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Mercedes made two protests. Both protests were rejected by the FIA, but Mercedes announced online and to the FIA that it intended to protest the decision. The team now had 72 hours to come up with evidence to start a new investigation.
Mercedes thinks about F1
This does not seem to be happening, however, because while Mercedes is said to be angry about the outcome of the race, they also realise that the reputation of the sport is at stake. They realise, according to The Times, that a protracted case could do a lot of harm to the sport, and possibly little good.
Mercedes only wanted to challenge the result because in their view the race control gave an unfair advantage to Red Bull and Verstappen at the safety car situation at the end of the race. According to the British newspaper, however, Mercedes has now resigned itself to the result and Verstappen is therefore officially world champion.