The FIA gala? No, thank you. Wolff and Hamilton won’t be at the awards. Will they be fined for that?

Toto Wolff, head of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 stable, and Lewis Hamilton will be absent from the FIA awards gala. The reason, of course, is simple and has to do with the disappointment of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Although Mercedes, led by Wolff, have dropped their appeal, the German team is still deeply affected by the way the world championship was decided and the approach taken by the sports commissioners during the post-race investigation into the incident.

It should be noted that it was Hamilton who asked his team to withdraw the appeal. If they had not done so, the whole thing would have gone to the International Court of Appeal and the situation would have taken a long time to resolve.

“We protested in the interests of sporting justice and since then we have been in constructive dialogue with the FIA and Formula 1 to ensure we have clarity on the interpretation of the rules in the future. So that all drivers know what rules they are racing under and how they will be applied,” reads the official Mercedes statement.

“We welcome the FIA’s decision to set up a commission to thoroughly analyse what happened in Abu Dhabi and improve the robustness of the rules, governance and decision-making in Formula 1. We also welcome the fact that it has invited teams and drivers to participate,” Mercedes said in response to the FIA statement.

“Mercedes-AMG Petronas will actively work with this Commission to create a better Formula 1 – for every team and every fan who loves the sport as much as we do. We will hold the FIA accountable for this process and we hereby withdraw our appeal,” Mercedes said in a statement.

Wolff and Hamilton, however, have decided to boycott the FIA-organised gala. It is here that Max Verstappen is due to receive the trophy for this season’s champion. According to the rules, invited guests must attend the ceremony, but it is now certain that they will not.

Article 6.6 of the Sporting Regulations states that the drivers who finish first, second and third in the final standings must be present at the ceremony. Otherwise, they risk a penalty of some kind from the FIA for not attending the event.

This is because Mercedes won their eighth consecutive Constructors’ Cup title, not only in Formula 1 but also in Formula E, where they also won the drivers’ title. According to the Motorsport website, the German stable will be represented at the awards by James Allison (the team’s technical director – ed.).

“I won’t be there because of my loyalty to Lewis and because of my personal integrity,” Wolff explained in a recent interview with selected media (Motorsport).

“In a way, I’m trying to separate the anger of the result in the drivers’ championship and, on the other hand, the joy of having achieved something unprecedented. This is something to celebrate,” he concluded.

The FIA gala evening will take place today, 16 December, in Paris. The live stream starts at 21:00 and can be found on the FIA’s Facebook page.

Sources: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1, Twitter, Motorsport