Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn and executive director Toto Wolff refused an out-of-court deal masterminded by the team’s non-executive chairman Niki Lauda.
The triple world champion says he agreed a deal with Bernie Ecclestone which would have seen Mercedes avoid having to go to the International Tribunal, but his colleagues refused the offer.
“Red Bull lodged the protest against us with Ferrari. I tried the whole weekend in Montreal to avoid the [tribunal] process,” Lauda explained to Blick.
“[I] agreed an out-of-court deal with Bernie Ecclestone and to make it happen it needed a letter from Mercedes to FIA boss [Jean] Todt,” he said. “But our bosses Toto Wolff and Ross Brawn refused. Now they have to live with it.”
The Austrian refused to comment on the details of the deal, but it’s believed it centered around a large fine, rather than any championship exclusions.
Lauda wasn’t present at the tribunal on Thursday. Mercedes was represented by Brawn, chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin and team manager Ron Meadows.
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