Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff believes the technical infringement that saw Lewis Hamilton disqualified from the qualifying results at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix should not have been investigated by the stewards and has accused the FIA of breaking its own "modus operandi".
Hamilton was excluded from Friday's results and forced to start from the back of the grid in Saturday's sprint race after the drag reduction system (DRS) on his car's rear wing opened beyond the permitted amount during scrutineering.
According to Wolff, the flap, which is designed to open at certain sections of track to reduce drag and increase top speed, opened 0.2mm beyond the permitted 85mm in the regulations during a load test.
The FIA has impounded the illegal rear wing until the end of the race weekend, meaning Mercedes has not conducted a thorough investigation of its own, but the team and the stewards believe the irregularity was caused by damage incurred during the qualifying session and was not an attempt to break the rules.
The stewards also noted in their report that had Mercedes identified the damage during the session and reported it to the FIA, it would have been allowed to replace the wing with an identical part, but because it failed during a post-session test they were given no option but to disqualify the car as per F1's regulations.
Wolff believes the decision to report the test failure to the stewards after the session, rather than permit Mercedes to replace the wing with an identical one, was at odds with the way the FIA usually treats damaged parts.
"I don't want to pick out any individuals because everybody tries to do the best possible job in their role, but something went against the modus operandi this last 24 hours, which was either under pressure from other stakeholders, or just different," Wolff told journalists on Saturday evening.
"If the modus operandi is different now, you maybe need to look at others also with a more strict and severe eye. I can tell you that in the next few races we are going to look at every single bit of race tape that's going to fall off a car and ask questions.
"In a way, if there was a gentlemen's agreement -- if such a thing as a gentlemen's agreement exists in Formula One, because there are no gentleman -- then now it doesn't anymore.
"So you have no leniency of fixing things on a car. If it's broken, it's broken and you can't touch it. This is how it's going to go this year [from now on]."
The decision appears to have dealt a critical blow to Hamilton's title chances, with his main rival Max Verstappen extending his championship lead to 21 points on Saturday as well as securing second place on the grid for Sunday's grand prix -- eight places ahead of Hamilton, who will start tenth.
Prior to the stewards' decision, Wolff said he was convinced Hamilton would not be disqualified from Friday's results and initially thought the decision was a joke.
"[There was] disbelief," he said. "Disbelief is how things went.
"With a certain respect for the stewards, it's difficult in that situation as it's not an easy ruling on such a contentious topic where it is also about a world championship.
"They need to look at the specific situation and not at the big picture, but the process from telling us, discovering we have marginally failed the test -- we're speaking about 0.2 of a mm -- to not allowing this to be fixed like the normal protocol would be but rather reported to the stewards, the bullet was out of the gun and I think that put the stewards in a very difficult situation to come up with the right judgement.
"But to be honest until late this afternoon we believed it was OK, because the wing was damaged, one side was OK, the middle was OK, the right side was not OK, and that actually means we had a performance disadvantage.
"We thought, in consideration of all these aspects, the FIA would say there was a damage and therefore we weren't in breach of regs, and they also said there was nothing that happened with intent from our side, but we were disqualified, which honestly I couldn't believe.
"I thought that Ron Meadows [Mercedes team manager] was making a joke when I saw the WhatsApp [explaining the decision].
"So strange things happen. But you have to take it on a chin and that last 60 minutes of motor racing from Valtteri [Bottas] and Lewis brought all the enjoyment back with all the frustrations that happened before."
Hamilton drove from last place to fifth in Saturday's 24-lap sprint race, meaning he will start tenth on the grid for Sunday's grand prix once a five-place penalty for taking a new engine is applied. His teammate, Bottas, secured pole position for Sunday's race by beating Verstappen to victory in the sprint.
After Hamilton crossed the line, Wolff radioed his driver and said "f--- them all", which he later explained was a result of pent-up frustration over the way the disqualification was handled.
"I obviously didn't mean it towards any of the regulations, it is generally a mindset we have that that sometimes when there is hardship you need to build up resilience and that is meant by saying 'f--- them all'," Wolff said.
"Yesterday the car was being tested, and today two hours before the race we got the information we were disqualified and that is ... what can I say, in a way sad, because there's procedures in Formula One -- a certain modus operandi -- and a protocol you have to follow.
"We had a car that wasn't in breach of the 85mm slot gap, we failed successive tests by the tiniest of margins, and in the past that would have meant 'fix it'.
"We saw it with the Red Bull wing last weekend [in Mexico], they have had many bargeboard bits and failures, and we were put back because the FIA has our cut drawings, the wings, we wanted to leave the wing with them so they could cut it in 1000 pieces.
"We weren't allowed to look at the wing because it was simply damaged through the qualifying session but none of these arguments counted.
"To be fair, the stewards did the job, we failed that one test, and their argument needs to be respected.
"This is why we decided not to appeal the decision because if the stewards decide you need to take it on the chin, it can go both ways."
Mercedes was given the option to appeal the stewards' decision, but it would have meant Hamilton started the sprint race from pole and therefore his qualifying position, and by extension his result in Sunday's race, would also be at threat of disqualification if the appeal failed.
Based on the decision of the stewards, Wolff said he did not believe the team would have met the requirements for a successful appeal, which includes providing new evidence that has not been considered before.
"It is the argument of losing points tomorrow and losing all points that is one consideration," Wolff said. "But there is another consideration that there is a TD [technical directive] that described a test and when you fail a test, that's black and white.
"Therefore, I think the outcome wouldn't have been advantageous for us. I'm just saying that... it shouldn't have even reached the stewards room if it was following the modus operandi of many, many years before.
"And that's why I don't believe we would have had particularly good cards for an appeal anyway."