The FIA rejects the two Mercedes protests: Verstappen, champion

Almost five hours after the end of the 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP, there is finally an official result: Verstappen wins the race and the world championship.

The FIA stewards have confirmed that Mercedes’ protest over the restart of the race after the Safety Car does not go ahead , after also dismissing the German team’s protest over a possible illegal maneuver by Max Verstappen on Lewis Hamilton during the period of safety car.

Before half an hour after the race, Mercedes presented two protests to the stewards, one for an alleged overtaking of Verstappen to Hamilton rolling behind the safety car and another because they let several drivers unfold before the restart of the test .

As for the first, the stewards explained that although that happened for a few moments, Verstappen was behind Hamilton at the time he had to be. And with respect to the second, they revealed why they cannot go back on the final result.

Mercedes had claimed that the restart of the race was an infringement of the FIA sporting regulations and requested that the results be taken into account at the end of the penultimate lap, when Hamilton was the leader and virtual champion.

But the stewards have dismissed the protest and that means Verstappen is formally the winner of the race and the 2021 drivers’ champion.

Mercedes argued that Article 48.12 of the regulations had not been complied with, which establishes that “any single-seater that has been overtaken by the leader must pass the cars that are on the leader’s lap and the safety car” and “once the last single-seater has lapped past the leader, the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the next lap.

The stewards said that while that article may not have been “fully enforced” as the safety car came in at the end of that same lap, “article 48.13 overrides that and once the message ‘safety car safety on this lap’, it is mandatory to remove the Safety Car on that same lap.

“However, regarding Mercedes’ request that the Stewards remedy the problem by amending qualifying to reflect the positions at the end of the penultimate lap, it is a step that the Stewards believe is about retroactively shortening the race and, therefore, it is not appropriate.”

Mercedes has yet to decide whether to take further action on that sentence.

Podium: winner and champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing,

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Podium: winner and champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing,

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Podium: winner and champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, second place Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, third place Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari

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Podium: Winner and Champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Third Place Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari, Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Director

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Podium: second place Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

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Podium: Second place Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Christian Horner, Director of Red Bull Racing

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Podium: third place Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari

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Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, with his team

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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, in Parc Ferme

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Champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, celebrates at Parc Ferme

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Champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, celebrates at Parc Ferme

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Champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, celebrates at Parc Ferme

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Champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, celebrates at Parc Ferme

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari, 3rd position, at Parc Ferme

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Lando Norris, McLaren

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Stefano Domenicali, general director of la Fórmula 1

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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

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Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A521, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M

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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT02

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari SF21

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Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB16B

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Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT02, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M, Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12, the rest of the grid at the start

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Honda representatives present Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen with a trophy for his championship

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Masashi Yamamoto, General Manager of Honda Motorsport, with a trophy

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A trophy presented by Honda to Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing for his championship

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Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Team Principal, Adrian Newey, Red Bull Racing Technical Director, after the race

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Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner lifts the Constructors’ Trophy on the podium

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Podium: Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing with Winner and Champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

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Winner and champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, with his father Jos Verstappen at Parc Ferme

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Podium: 2nd place Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, winner and champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 3rd place Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, celebrates with a Dutch flag at Parc Ferme

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, celebrates with a Dutch flag at Parc Ferme

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2nd position, leaves the podium

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2nd position, is interviewed after the race

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2nd position, arrives at Parc Ferme

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2nd position, greets the fans from the Parc Ferme

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, is congratulated by Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari, at Parc Ferme

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, congratulates Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, on his championship at Parc Ferme

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, congratulates Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, on his championship at Parc Ferme

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, congratulates Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, on his championship at Parc Ferme

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, sale de su box

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