F1 expert labels Mercedes’ reaction to their title loss as “unsporting” after the team did not show up to the FIA Gala.
After Mercedes’ absence at the photoshoot of the FIA Prize-Giving Gala, RacingNews365 F1 journalist, Dieter Rencken called the company’s reaction “unsporting.”
Rencken said that the FIA will need to deploy all their weapons to ensure that Mercedes obeys the sporting regulations.
Mercedes won the F1 constructors’ Championship and both driver and team titles in Formula E, but it does not seem enough for them as they failed to show up to the FIA’s event on Tuesday.
The Gala will crown Max Verstappen as the Drivers’ Champion and Mercedes as Constructors’ Champions, with both drivers and their respective team bosses required to attend.
Rencken feels that the behaviour of the team is remarkable as there has been complete silence from the team since the final race of the season.
He said, “there has not been a single comment, not one word from Mercedes CEO who is also Toto’s boss. The share structure is a bit more complicated than that but there is the three-pointed star in front of the car.”
Furthermore, he said that Lewis’ behaviour is all very well to go and congratulate somebody on the podium and do the odd TV interview on track. But the media is the one that asks hard questions and he was not there. Now, that is a breach of the sporting regulations.
Also Read: F1 World Champion Max Verstappen comments on the controversial season finale end
Mercedes’ boss does not know how to lose
Moreover, the F1 expert added that the absence of the Brackley-based team could be because Toto Wolff does not know how to lose, but that is no excuse.
Since his tenure as the team principal, Wolff has never lost a title in the hybrid era. With no word from Mercedes on whether to proceed with an appeal, it is all very up in the air.
Rencken further added that the sporting regulations specify, very clearly, that the recipient of the trophy during the Prize-Giving Gala is the champion, full stop, then it’s too late to change it.
The Prize-Giving Gala is on Thursday evening, almost to the hour, exactly 96 hours after Mercedes registered their intention to appeal. And so there’s a trophy waiting to be handed to somebody, and yet we have this process in the interim.
