Mercedes Drops Rosberg Penalty Appeal. Are They Now Favoring Hamilton?

Oh the Mercedes saga never seems to disappoint. There is always so much speculation and so many rumors flying around that we can barely keep track. Apparently they favor Nico. No wait, they favor Lewis. No wait, they say they don’t favor anyone and let them have at each other for the betterment of the sport. No wait…

This list seems endless, but why not stoke the fire with more rumors and speculation. I mean it’s only fair and pretty much par for the course at this point. Plus it’s fun to write about it all and then let the die hards go at it in the comments either calling each other out or calling me out for being a massive dip shit. Seriously fun regardless of the outcomes. Well, here goes nothing. *ahem*

Yesterday Lewis Hamilton won in front of his home crowd at Silverstone while Nico Rosberg finished second, then 3rd due to a penalty. This closed the championship gap to 1 point and makes it a true sprint to the finish for both Mercedes drivers. The penalty in question was the new “Radio Coaching rule” that means teams cannot coach drivers in any way, which is asinine. The argument was if it was a safety issue.

Here’s the audio.

This rule is as murky and subjective as any F1 rule as of late, but the real story is that Mercedes is no longer going to appeal the ruling. According to a report by The Telegraph:

Mercedes have become the first team to fall foul of Formula One’s strict radio clampdown after the world champions decided not to appeal Nico Rosberg’s penalty in the British Grand Prix, costing precious points in his tense championship fight with Lewis Hamilton. Rosberg was given a 10-second time penalty nearly four hours after the British Grand Prix, after Mercedes were judged to have broken the sport’s stringent radio rules as they advised him how to fix a gearbox problem.

After the team’s engineers met in the factory in Brackley, Northamptonshire, on Monday, they decided to withdraw their intention to appeal. The original instruction on how to fix the potentially terminal issue was permitted, but the advice to avoid seventh gear, given by Rosberg’s engineer Tony Ross, was against the rules.

First off, telling a racer to avoid 7th gear is illegal now? Bernie Ecclestone done lost his mind. How is that safe in any way? Ridiculous. Second, let’s start a completely insane rumor shall we? Did Mercedes take away their appeal to make sure the championship is as close as humanly possible? Sure seems that way. I’d appeal that penalty until the end of the year if I had too because that’s 100% ridiculous that is a breaking a rule.

What do you guys think? Purposeful appeal withdraw, or Mercedes just throwing their hands up and saying, “F*** it”? Lemme hear it.

(Source: The Telegraph)