Red Bull surprised that Mercedes protested against not penalising Verstappen

On Tuesday afternoon Mercedes announced that they will protest against the FIA decision not to penalise Max Verstappen in the Brazilian Grand Prix. The German team is of the opinion that Verstappen did not act correctly in the duel with Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull Racing is surprised that Mercedes has now lodged a protest with the FIA.

Sources at Red Bull were surprised Mercedes have gone through with the protest as they felt that the onboard camera from Verstappen’s car supported the original view of Michael Masi that it was hard racing with both cars going deep and braking very late, GPblog.com is told.

Mercedes wants Bottas on P2

Mercedes believe a time penalty should be applied to Verstappen. If the 24-year-old Dutchman were to receive a penalty of, say, five seconds for this 'offence,' he would finish third in the results and Valtteri Bottas would move up to second place. In this case, Hamilton's gap to Verstappen in the world championship would be reduced from 14 to 11 points.

Toto Wolff on Sunday night told Mercedes that he did not understand why the stewards decided not to punish Verstappen. The Brackley-based team boss also stated that any form of diplomacy would be over.

Ball is in the FIA's court

The FIA will now have to look into the matter again, but it is unknown when a decision will be made. It is expected that this will happen before the Grand Prix of Qatar this weekend.