© Provided by The Canadian PressABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Mercedes ended the dispute over the Formula One season finale on Thursday when it withdrew its appeal of the controversial finish that cost Lewis Hamilton a record eighth championship. Both protests were dismissed and Mercedes then asked for reconsideration at the International Court of Appeal, a process that could have dragged into next year. “We left Abu Dhabi in disbelief of what we had just witnessed," Mercedes said in a statement. Hamilton and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff both skipped the gala, and Mercedes did not send its constructors' championship-winning cars to Paris for photographs. “A safety car caused by Williams gave us an opportunity to throw something strategically at those last five laps and it paid off.”___More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsJenna Fryer, The Associated Press

Source: CBC News December 17, 2021 07:31 UTC