Will be interesting to read hire they defend the rejection. Does court beckon??

Merc. won the constructors' championship.  Unless things have changed since I last followed this (which admittedly was six+ years ago) that's worth way more than the drivers' championship.  They'll piss and moan (with good reason) but I'd be surprised if it ends up in court.

They would still win the constructors if Ham won drivers so not sure what your point is.

Your point was the money involved.

EDIT:  Liv.

Unlikely wrote:

Your point was the money involved.

EDIT:  Liv.

Yeah.
Your reply makes no sense though.
They will lose money for Ham not winning. Them still getting money from constructors doesn't change that.

LivDiv wrote:

Unlikely wrote:

Your point was the money involved. EDIT:  Liv.

Yeah. Your reply makes no sense though. They will lose money for Ham not winning. Them still getting money from constructors doesn't change that.

OK, I will use more words.  My point was that taking this to court is likely to be expensive, potentially damaging to the Merc. brand in terms of public perception, and ultimately futile, because the FIA have ruled.  Lewis was completely right to avoid any comment on the politics of the situation in the post-race interview.

Tbh, I see this in a similar light to Maradonna and the Hand of God. It's more controversial, because without such direct interference, Ham was going to win that race. 

But the incident on the 1st/2nd lap was also badly dealt with.

Look at it another way. For years, F1 had never been so balanced. So the officials had never had to deal with anything like it, and tbf, can be expected to make some dumb mistakes.

A bit like VAR last season. But instead of an introduction of tech, it's the competitors themselves that have forced the officials to adjust, and just like with VAR, they'd not had a scooby.

LivDiv wrote:

Unlikely wrote:

Your point was the money involved.

EDIT:  Liv.

Yeah.
Your reply makes no sense though.
They will lose money for Ham not winning. Them still getting money from constructors doesn't change that.

Only the constructors championship earns prize money. Drivers is just for the prestige. Ham prob on a bonus so it might save merc money!
Unless you meant in terms of marketing and knock on revenue from have the champ etc

A huge crash where someone else gets hurt...

They would have been far better served just admitting that Massi fucked up, but within the rules there isn't actually any recourse for the Race Director not knowing what the rules are.

Essentially, the decisions says any rules regarding anything listed in 15.3 don't actually matter because the Race Director can just decide on the spot what he wants to do regardless of the regulations. Going to court might give clarity to this.

Clarity for next season would be better than nothing.

The marketability of "Best driver in history" cannot be underestimated.
If this was any other season maybe things might be different but that title is a golden goose that any business would be mad to leave on the table.
That will be paying out pretty much until the end of time, or until someone does 9.

Prize money is pocket change in comparison.

You think Ferrari aren't still raking in money off what Schumacher did in their car?

Nah I'll leave you clutching at straws.