SILVERSTONE, Great Britain -- Mercedes has lodged its intention to appeal the stewards' decision that dropped Nico Rosberg from second position to third following the British Grand Prix.
The stewards deemed that a message relayed to Rosberg towards the end of the race had been in breach of new regulations aimed at preventing driver coaching from the pit wall. After getting stuck in seventh gear at the end of lap 46, the Mercedes pit wall told Rosberg to change a setting on his steering wheel and "avoid seventh gear" for the rest of the race.
The second comment was deemed to be in breach of the regulations, but by appealing the stewards' decision the ten-second penalty, and its impact on the classification, could still change. By declaring its intention to appeal within an hour of the decision, Mercedes opened up a 96 hour window in which it will decide whether to follow through with the appeal via its national sporting authority -- the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund. If Mercedes goes through with the appeal, it will then be ratified with the Secretary General of the FIA courts before a hearing date is announced.
Rosberg is the first driver to fall foul of the radio restrictions introduced at the start of this year, meaning there is no precedent for such decisions by the stewards.