Mercedes critical of penalty for Robert Wickens

Robert Wickens was excluded earlier today from the sixth round of the 2014 DTM. The Canadian, who had been battling BMW’s Augusto Farfus for the lead for the first half of the race, had been handed a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release when the Mercedes driver almost collided with Timo Glock’s BMW during the mandatory pit stop. Wickens failed to take the penalty in the following three laps after it was issued, and was subsequently black flagged from the race.

“That was a really disappointing afternoon for me,” said the Canadian driver. “After taking pole position on Saturday, I thought I was in with a good chance for Sunday’s race. My car was running exceptionally well on the prime tyres after the pit stop.”.

Wickens clearly stated the penalty was unfair and it spoiled his chances of taking a surprising win: “As the rules stand and in my own personal view, it was clearly not an unsafe release. The penalty ruined my race and cost me a potential win.”

Head of Motorsport Marketing & Communications Wolfgang Schattling went even further, labeling the stewards’ decision as “surprising and incomprehensible”, after praising the fight between his driver and BMW Team RBM’s Augusto Farfus.

“Robert secured a fantastic pole position on Saturday and was leading the race. His tussle with Augusto Farfus was world class. Unfortunately, the race stewards then took what was for us a surprising and incomprehensible decision. In our view, there was no unsafe release after Robert’s pit stop.”

Schattling then explained why Wickens did not take the penalty and was ultimately disqualified. “We tried to speak to the stewards during the race, because we thought that they had possibly mixed up the incident of Pascal Wehrlein leaving the pit lane with that of Wickens. That’s why Robert stayed out so long, but there’s nothing you can do about the stewards’ decision, particularly when a black flag is involved. For that reason, we then called Robert in. His fantastic race was totally wrecked by this decision,” he concluded.

Despite still backing the feeling of the Mercedes squad that the penalty was unfair, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Toto Wolff was philosophical about the incident.

“From our perspective, it was very clearly not an unsafe release. The decision is incomprehensible for me, especially since it is not consistent with other decisions that were made. However, we must accept the penalty, as those are the rules. In future, I think that in cases of doubt we should act in the best interests of racing.”

Wolff also thanked Robert Wickens and the Mercedes team for having performed very well throughout the weekend, promising the fans that the German manufacturer will be back up there very soon.