F1: Mercedes intends to appeal Rosberg penalty

Mercedes has lodged its intention to appeal against the penalty handed to Nico Rosberg by the British Grand Prix stewards regarding its breach of Formula 1's radio communications restrictions. The champion team now has 96 hours to determine whether it will follow through with an official appeal via its ASN, the Deutschen Motorsport Bund (DMSB).

Rosberg had 10 seconds added to his elapsed race time after the stewards found the German driver and his team guilty of breaking article 27.1 of the sporting regulations, namely the driver shall drive the car alone and unaided.

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At the time, Rosberg's car had developed a gearbox problem and he was being advised on how to circumnavigate it – which Mercedes felt was legal as the rules allow such communication if a car has a potentially terminal problem.

It is the first case of its type since the new regulations clamping down on radio messages between teams and drivers were introduced at the start of the season. Mercedes feels there is a gray area in the wording of the technical directive that accompanies the rule, and is prepared to test the water with its appeal.

Point two of the directive permits radio messages that are an "indication of a critical problem with the car" and adds "any message of this sort may only be used if failure of a component or system is imminent and potentially terminal."

Rosberg had finished second at Silverstone behind teammate Lewis Hamilton, and just 1.339s ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

With the additional 10-second time penalty, Rosberg is now classified third, and with it his championship lead over Hamilton has been cut to one point.

Originally on Autosport.com