Sebastian Vettel’s ride back to the pits on a moped may land him in trouble with the stewards.
The Aston Martin driver borrowed a moped from a marshal to get back to the pits after his car came to a stop near the end of first practice. The session was red-flagged and Vettel made his way back to the pits on a moped, using the circuit itself to make his return.Following the session the timing screens confirmed Vettel was under investigation for “entering track without permission.”
For safety reasons, Formula 1’s sporting regulations restrict when drivers may access the circuit. They state: “During the period commencing 15 minutes prior to and ending five minutes after every practice session […] no one is allowed on the track, the pit entry or the pit exit with the exception of […] drivers when driving or on foot, having first received permission to do so from a marshal.”
Vettel left the moped in his pit box after returning to the team’s garage. He is making his return to F1 this weekend having missed the first two races of the season after testing positive for Covid-19.
Four other drivers have been summoned to the stewards for impeding each other during the first session of the weekend. They are Carlos Sainz Jnr, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen and Vettel’s team mate Lance Stroll.
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playstation361
8th April 2022, 5:58
It should just be an technical understanding repair.
formevic (@formevic)
8th April 2022, 7:42
Investigation for what?? He just practiced a better machinery in view of qualy.
sumedhvidwans (@sumedhvidwans)
8th April 2022, 7:49
I think FIA will take back some of his jellybeans he won last year.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
8th April 2022, 7:56
Well, he did “make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times and may not leave the track without a justifiable reason.”, didn’t he ?
Broke1984 (@broke1984)
8th April 2022, 8:11
Well he had permission from the marshal so it’s fine no?
Yaru (@yaru)
8th April 2022, 15:14
Marshal was trying to contact race control for instructions/go ahead and Vettel just left without him.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
8th April 2022, 8:33
Allow the poor guy SOME track time maybe?
David (@djarvis)
8th April 2022, 9:06
Does anyone else find it odd that on one hand, F1 are absolutely milking this on their social media channels but at the same time it’s under investigation?
I personally found it brilliant and Seb can do no wrong in my eyes anymore, and I definitely wasn’t a fan of his in the red bull years
Ciaran (@ciaran)
8th April 2022, 9:10
Not at all, I doubt the FOM media team and FIA stewards are gonna have the same opinions! The former certainly appreciate Seb’s popularity these days :)
S
8th April 2022, 10:07
Problem is – the line between rules and media benefits is as unpredictable as track limits and stewarding decisions have been.
He’ll probably get a little smack on the wrist publicly, and a big thank you in private.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
8th April 2022, 11:54
Not one of his allocated sets of tyres. They’ll make him start the race on it.