By Glenn Freeman Monday, May 14th 2007, 16:31 GMT
Mercedes believe that they have a good chance of overturning the decision to penalise Bruno Spengler at Hockenheim this week.
Spengler was handed a 50-second penalty after the first race of the season after he collided with Timo Scheider while battling for third place on the final lap.
The appeal is set to be heard on Wednesday, and Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug feels that the HWA team have a strong case.
"We have very strong arguments," Haug told autosport.com. "We have evidence that worse things have happened in the past and nothing was done."
Spengler believes that he is still in the hunt for the championship despite having no points after the first two races, but Haug is hoping that the Canadian will still receive the six points he lost at Hockenheim.
"The officials have taken a potentially championship-deciding verdict," Haug added. "It is not helpful if you have zero points, but we have a good case. It was a racing incident, and Bruno should not have been penalised."
Spengler agreed that nobody should have been blamed for the incident with Scheider, which resulted in the German spinning just a few corners from the finish, and losing any chance of scoring points.
"I was not at fault, and he was not at fault," Spengler told autosport.com. "When you have a close championship where everyone is so good, you will always have people fighting.
"It was not a move by me trying to push him off," he added. "I was on the line and he drove into me a little bit from the outside, and I touched him."
