Mercedes lodged two separate protests following the season finale in Abu Dhabi which saw Max Verstappen overtake Lewis Hamilt🅺on on the final lap, benefiting from a controversial Safety Car period.

One was relating to Ver✱stappen overtaking Hamilton under the Safety Car, while the second was how the restart played out and the decisions that were made by the FIA.

The FIA rejected both protests, conf🍸irming Verstappen as the 2021 F1 drivers’ champion.

However, shortly afterwards, Mercedes confirmed that it has “lodged our intention to a🌸ppeal Document 58 / the decision of the stewards to dismiss the team’s pro☂test.”

The point of controversy came when race director Michael Masi oꩲnly allowed a handf🧸ul of lapped runners to unlap themselves. 

Verstappen had at least four cars between him and Hamilton, meaning had Masi not allowed the lapped cars to overtake Hamilton and th🧜e Safety Car, the Mercedes driver would have likely won the race and thus the championship. 

The point of con🥀tention is that Masi's decision to only allow a handful of cars to unlap themselves contravenes the sporting regulations hence why Merce✤des protested.

When rejecting Mercedes' protest, the stewards argued that another part of the sporting regulati♊ons gives Masi “overriding authority” when deploying the Safety Car and anything re🔯lated to it. 

Mercedes now has a 96-hour window to decide whether it will proceed with an a❀p💖peal to the ICA - the FIA International Court of Appeal.