Mercedes has confirmed it will not appeal Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from qualifying at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Hamilton was excluded from the results of Friday’s qualifying session due to a DRS infringement, with Mercedes unsuccessfully arguing that it should be allowed to simply repair the damaged rear wing after the stewards accepted something had “gone wrong” rather than an attempt to break the regulations.

Despite the acceptance that the part had failed in some way, the stewards disqualified Hamilton because Mercedes could provide no explanation for the failure, and the team has opted against appealing the decision.

Had Mercedes appealed, Hamilton would have started the Sprint from first on the grid but been racing under appeal, putting all of the results from the Sprint and Sunday’s main race at Interlagos at risk should the appeal fail.

That means Hamilton will start the Sprint from 20th on the grid, with the 24-lap event setting the grid for Sunday’s grand prix. Hamilton then has a further five-place grid penalty that will be applied for tomorrow’s grid as a result of taking a new internal combustion engine (ICE) this weekend.

Here is how we will now line up for #F1Sprint 👇#BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/KYXNJtOiXT

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 13, 2021