Williams drops appeal against Massa's Brazilian GP exclusion

The team served notice to appeal on Sunday in Brazil, and then had 96 hours to decide whether to go ahead.

Although the team is convinced that it had not committed an offence and that it has the evidence to prove that, it has decided that it wasn't worth formally pursuing the matter given that the lost points make no difference to the constructors' championship situation, and that there would be legal costs involved.

The FIA deemed that the team was in breach of Article 12.5.1 of the FIA Formula One Technical regulations, Article 3.2. of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations and Article 12.1.1.i of the FIA International Sporting Code after the right rear tyre was reported to be at 137 degrees C, or 27C above the maximum tread temperature.

However the team had data that indicated that the temperature had not gone above 107C.

A statement from the team given to Motorsport.com said: “Following detailed consideration the team has concluded that despite not agreeing with the exclusion and believing it has sufficient evidence with which to successfully contest the ruling, it will not formally appeal the decision as a hearing date is unlikely to be available until after the end of the season impacting a time when the team wishes to turn its attention to its 2016 campaign.

“Given the financial climate of the sport, and the fact that the decision does not impact the team’s Constructors’ Championship position, it has been decided that this would be an unnecessary cost to endure.”