Mercedes will not appeal Rosberg penalty

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Mercedes has withdrawn its intention to appeal Nico Rosberg's time penalty for radio messages in the British Grand Prix.

Rosberg was handed a ten second time penalty after the race as a result of radio messages from Mercedes regarding a gearbox problem. While the stewards were happy with some of the information passed to Rosberg, they took exception with guidance to avoid seventh gear and to shift through to eighth to help prevent the problem worsening.

With Rosberg's penalty demoting him from second to third in the results, Mercedes lodged its intention to appeal on Sunday evening after the race. However, the team has now confirmed it will not pursue an appeal even though it is unhappy with "the perceived over-regulation of the sport."

The full statement from Mercedes reads as follows:

"The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team today decided to withdraw its notice of intention to appeal against the decision of the Stewards of the British Grand Prix.

"We were able to prove to the Stewards that a car-stopping gearbox failure was imminent and, as such, were permitted within the rules to advise Nico of the required mode change.

"However, the advice to avoid seventh gear was considered to breach TD/016-16, and therefore Article 27.1 of the Sporting Regulations.

"The Team accepts the Stewards' interpretation of the regulation, their decision and the associated penalty.

"During the coming weeks, we will continue discussions with the relevant F1 stakeholders on the subject of the perceived over- regulation of the sport."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.