BeeEmm said:
sars said:
I suspect that the real reason was that if they did successfully appeal Masi’s decision to allow one lap of racing, the only possible outcome would be that they’d have to strip Verstappen of the win and title, because the race could only have finished under the safety car
I'm sorry sars, but they didn't successfully appeal, so your only possible outcome didn't happen. Max is as innocent as Lewis here, they both raced to the flag and Max won. That is a fact.
The race stewards made a decision based on the article 15.3 rule, however there is legal consensus that the rule breaches the FIA's own article 1.1.1 of the International Sporting Code, which the Stewards wouldn't consider. By going to the International Court of Appeal, so not the FIA, they could decide that because a precedent was set for the Eifel Grand Prix in 2020 that the decision broke the fairness part of code. Article 15.3 gives the Race Director carte blanche on how the safety car operates, but it has to be consistent so that the teams can plan a course of action, else how is that fair.
There are some excellent articles out there which make interesting reading, the ones I've read, by and large state that Mercedes have an excellent case, so much so that the FIA have agreed to look at ways to improve on it. If, as you both suggest there is no valid case why would the FIA care.