Wolff ‘mediating’ to avoid Racing Point case going to Court of Appeal

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has revealed that he has been acting as a mediator in the Racing Point case after four Formula 1 teams notified the FIA of their intention to appeal.

Racing Point was hit with a 15-point Constructors’ Championship deduction and a €400,000 fine after the FIA ruled it had broken the Sporting Regulations by running a copy of Mercedes’ rear brake ducts.

Renault – which raised the original protest – Ferrari, McLaren and Williams, have all notified the FIA of their intention to appeal the fact Racing Point can continue to run the brake ducts, whilst also calling for a tougher sanction.

Racing Point has also said it will appeal the verdict, with team owner Lawrence Stroll insisting the team has done nothing wrong and will clear its name, which he says has been unfairly “dragged through the mud”.

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Although Mercedes has also been involved in the protest because it supplied Racing Point with the brake ducts, Wolff has been acting as a mediator to try and resolve the situation without it going to the International Court of Appeal, which will be a lengthy and drawn out process.

“I don’t think that anybody is interested in this continuing forever and going to the International Court of Appeal,” the Austrian told Sky Sports F1.

“It will be a month or two until there is the case with lawyers involved, and therefore, everyone is trying to be pragmatic. I was invited to be the mediator between the two groups, which I tried to satisfy.

“They’re all so stubborn, but I think we made progress, a little bit,” he added.

“Now in the next 48 hours, we should come to a conclusion whether the appeals remain upheld or everybody decides it’s not worth going that way. Racing Point was penalised anyway.”

The five teams now have until Wednesday morning to officially submit their appeals.

Wolff sided with Racing Point and insists neither they or his team have done anything wrong, adding: “We have not been protested. We have done nothing wrong. I strongly believe that Racing Point has done nothing wrong.”