Mick Schumacher’s Sochi win confirmed as rivals drop protest plans

Mick Schumacher’s hopes of winning the Formula 2 championship have received a boost as rival teams have decided against proceeding with appeals against his Prema team following his feature race victory in Sochi.

Prema were fined €10,000 after the stewards ruled team principal Rene Rosin “committed an act prejudicial to the competition” as he gestured to his drivers during the pit stop. As Rosin was not listed among the strictly limited number of team personnel who may be “associated in any way with the operation of the cars”, this was potentially an infringement of the rules.

After studying the incident, the stewards determined Rosin did not interfere with the pit stop. However they ruled his “actions could be misconstrued under the circumstances, by someone without access to the appropriate camera angles and footage, as giving the appearance of operational direction”, and therefore issued a fine.

Four of Prema’s rival teams – understood to be ART, Carlin, DAMS, and Virtuosi – originally submitted notices of their intention to appeal against the decision. Had they proceeded, and a sporting penalty been imposed instead of a fine, Schumacher potentially stood to lose his win and could have fallen behind championship rivals Yuki Tsunoda and Callum Ilott in the classification of the race.

However an FIA spokesperson confirmed to RaceFans none of the appeals were confirmed. The race classification therefore remains as it stands.

The four remaining races in the F2 season will be held on consecutive weekends in Bahrain beginning at the end of next month.

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Formula Two