Ok, Mercedes withdrew his appeal under Hamilton pressure.
I'm not sure how much of it was Hamilton pressure, and how much of it was the fact that the appeal would be judged by the FIA... and it would have been extremely unlikely that the FIA would rule against themselves. AFAIK they could only have gone higher (to CAS) if
both parties (i.e. Mercedes and the FIA) agreed to it... which the FIA obviously would not do. Looks like Mercedes only hope was that the FIA would rule against themselves. It's not a great look for the sport when they can change championship results on a whim, in contravention of the rules and precedents, and then not be held accountable.
Wolff said Mercedes would "hold the FIA to account" but he had "confidence, trust and faith" that the teams and drivers could work with the governing body to create a "more robust decision-making process".
He said that Mercedes believed they would have won their case on pure legal grounds but they did not think the FIA court of appeal would reach the right judgement.
"The FIA can't really mark their own homework," Wolff said. "There is a difference between being right and obtaining justice."
The 2021 season finale will be judged by many as the FIA (Masi) thinking "oh, we're going to get the same champion again, we don't want that, let's make up new rules so this other guy will be champion instead". Which isn't really sport. And it's not really fair on Max either, he won't be "2021 champion", he'll be "2021 champion, but" or "2021 champion* (see footnote)".