Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has warned Ferrari as the controversy surrounding Sebastian Vettel’s penalty in Canada continues.
On Thursday, it was confirmed the Italian team had dropped their initial appeal against the five-second punishment which would cost the four-time champion victory in Montreal.
However, now Ferrari is considering whether to use their ‘right to review’, which gives them until a week on Sunday to submit new evidence to the FIA in an effort to overturn the decision.
To meet this barrier the Scuderia must provide a ‘new, significant element’ within their evidence to make a case but Mercedes have reminded their rivals doing so could actually have the opposite effect.
“You can’t undo the penalty,” PlanetF1 quoted Wolff as telling Austrian media. “The worst case would be that the stewards, after looking at the data, find that more punishment is needed.”
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Having initially claimed Vettel was “right” to be angry with the stewards after the race, Toto has now changed his opinion sharply in favour of the ruling.
“I talked to Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto and he thinks what happened isn’t 100 per cent worth a penalty, I think he is 100 per cent wrong,” the Mercedes chief continued.
“The fact is: Vettel flew off the track and came back. He looked in the rearview mirror and pushed Lewis towards the wall.
“If Lewis did not put on the brakes, the two would have collided. That’s why the penalty fits.
“Okay, it’s controversial,” Wolff conceded. “But in our sport you do not take prisoners.”