Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff says he doesn’t expect the Racing Point case to go to the International Court of Appeal.
Racing Point was docked 15 Constructors’ Championship points and fined €400,000 after it was found to have copied Mercedes’ front-brake duct design.
The original protest was initiated by Renault, which after the verdict was given pushed ahead with an appeal, seeking a tougher sanction and further clarification on the matter.
Williams, McLaren and Ferrari also signalled that they too would appeal, but only Ferrari – the only non-Mecredes powered car of the three – went ahead, joining Renault in the call for greater clarity. Racing Point is also appealing the penalty as it insists it followed the rules.
However this week Renault withdrew its protest, leaving only Ferrari, but Wolff expects the matter will be resolved without the need to go to the International Court of Appeal.
“I think this is part of the politics and Formula 1. It was a little bit of pushing against Racing Point’s performance, which is really outstanding this season,” he told Sky Sports.
“But it’s not down to a brake duct. I think they’ve done a really good job. And you can see how close they are to us. So I think this is a good group of people that have run in previous years with a low budget, with a tight ship, and this is why they have just closed that gap also to us.
“But I think this is going to resolve itself hopefully next week. I don’t expect this to go to the ICA.”
When asked if that meant Ferrari would follow Renault and withdraw its protest, he added: “I don’t know.”
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