Sebastian Vettel has been given a suspended €25,000 fine for leaving yesterday’s drivers’ meeting without permission.
The Aston Martin driver left the meeting before he was allowed to after “expressing frustration”, said the stewards.Vettel is understood to have been unhappy at the standard of officiating during the event. The meeting took place after the Friday evening qualifying session, when Vettel had his final Q1 lap time deleted for a track limits violation, demoting him to the back of the grid.
The stewards explained Vettel had “left the drivers’ meeting that was held at 19:30 on Friday 8th July, without permission, and [expressed] frustration at the meeting.
“Drivers are not free to leave when they want,” the stewards continued, “this being a breach of the requirement to attend. Drivers at this level are role models for every driver around the world and, in the opinion of the stewards, Vettel failed to live up to that standard in this case.”
However, Vettel has since met with race director Niels Wittich to discuss his concerns. Wittich later advised the stewards that “Vettel apologised without reservation and that further, they had a very constructive conversation covering the topics in the meeting and more.”
His fine will therefore not need to be paid unless he commits a similar rules breach before the end of the season.
“The stewards determine that there is a breach, which cannot go without penalty, but that based on the report from the race director there are factors in mitigation.
“Therefore, the stewards order a fine of €25,000, which is suspended for the remainder of the 2022 season, subject to any breach of Article 20.1 of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations or of Article 12.2.1 f) of the International Sporting Code.”
In 2016 Vettel apologised to the FIA after launching a profane tirade at former race director Charlie Whiting at the end of the Mexican Grand Prix.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 Austrian Grand Prix
- FIA affirms three sprint races on 2023 Formula 1 calendar
- “Oh, so unlucky!” How Alonso’s cursed Austrian Grand Prix unfolded on his radio
- Ferrari believe their performance deficit to Red Bull is now “negligible”
- Another fan’s experience of harassment last weekend – and why F1 must act
- AlphaTauri “desperately” need upgrades after “disaster” weekend, urges Gasly
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
9th July 2022, 18:06
kindergarten
Fab
9th July 2022, 18:21
Is Fia like Schwartzy ? 😁
Fab
9th July 2022, 18:06
Fia :
Bad Seb !
Go to your room, naughty boy !
I suppert Seb here.
They are grown men and human people.
Too strict frame can be like a prison.
Mayrton
9th July 2022, 22:45
The concept of FIA is not democracy, but indeed this seems to go a bit far and imho can therefore be regarded as an offer of weakness coming from either too much testosterone or other underlying insecurities at FIA
Griffin
9th July 2022, 18:09
Much ado about nothing. I was really hoping Seb had glued himself to something – it would’ve been more fun.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
9th July 2022, 18:33
This seems somewhat silly. Especially complaining that they are ‘role models’ and should act accordingly and not break some imaginary concept of FIA morality when we wouldn’t have known it even happened if they hadn’t chose to tell us, and frankly expressing frustration and walking out isn’t exactly the most dreadful of things to do.
Kribana (@krichelle)
9th July 2022, 18:54
Bruh. Reminds me when we cut class LOL.
MichaelN
9th July 2022, 18:57
This is nonsense, and for whatever reason Vettel seems to be singled out. The excuse of ‘role models’ also gets used selectively, as the amount of times drivers use profanity to describe each other or FIA decisions is too large to keep track off. Yet that never even warrants an investigation.
Alan Dove
9th July 2022, 21:26
Drivers’ Briefing often include subjects related to safety, Walking out before one has been officially rapped up is a serious offence.
petebaldwin (@)
9th July 2022, 19:00
True. The problem is I’d also say:
Stewards at this level are role models for every steward/referee around the world and, in the opinion of this fan, they have failed to live up to that standard over the last few years.
MichaelN
9th July 2022, 19:03
This comment will be investigated after the race.
Fab
9th July 2022, 19:59
Ahaha excellent 😁
Petbaldwing :
This is comment racing !
Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
9th July 2022, 19:44
I get that 25 grand for a driver such as Seb is nothing, but blimey: for us mere mortals it’s still a blistering high fine!
Venedikov (@venedikov)
9th July 2022, 20:06
That’s my salary for three years :/
Apostle (@apostle)
9th July 2022, 20:38
Bottas got fined 1k for speeding in the pitlane; a pretty dangerous manoeuvre. Vettel gets fined 25 times that amount for walking out a meeting?!
bosyber (@bosyber)
9th July 2022, 20:49
Priorities for FIA taken into account @apostle
Alan Dove
9th July 2022, 21:24
The Drivers’ Briefing is where the stewards/officials raise issues that pertain to safety. Even at the most humble of IKR kart club the officials don’t mess about with regard to attendance.
Apostle (@apostle)
10th July 2022, 1:52
Really? He walked out at the end of the meeting, you seriously think that’s an egregious enough offence to warrant a fine 25x that of putting people in actual danger?
Alan Dove
10th July 2022, 8:34
You can’t run race meetings if drivers feel they can walk out of official meetings/briefings. Kart clubs don’t even take this kind of stuff.
John Ballantyne
10th July 2022, 8:27
That’s a very good point!
ColonelBlimp
9th July 2022, 20:47
He attended, therefore technically no breach surely?
Wayne
9th July 2022, 21:25
What was the topic, the discussion and what was said. I wish i was the fly on that wall…
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
9th July 2022, 22:34
Seb has been pretty cringe but it is hard to beat wittich. Come back Masi, please come back.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th July 2022, 1:29
THAT could be a sign he’s on the way out of f1!
MG1982 (@mg1982)
10th July 2022, 5:54
Probably the best thing to do.
Horacio (@ahoracio)
10th July 2022, 11:19
Rules, rules, rules, rules, rules, rules.
Rules everywhere….
What a joke.
Craig
10th July 2022, 12:47
I suspect someone’s happy they can distract from poor or inconsistent officialling.