Vettel faces penalty over bizarre quali incident

Vettel faces penalty over bizarre quali incident

Originally written by Joas van Wingerden. This version is a translation.

Saturday 10 November 2018 19:29

Sebastian Vettel criticised an "unfair" decision to call him in for a weight check during a hectic Q2 at the Brazilian Grand Prix after he was referred to the stewards for destroying the FIA's weighbridge by driving away from it under his own power.

Vettel qualified second behind Lewis Hamilton at Interlagos but both drivers' positions were uncertain – Hamilton for blocking Kimi Raikkonen and Sergey Sirotkin and the Ferrari man for his bizarre incident.

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Stewards were not quite ready to weigh Vettel, who was in a rush to get soft tyres on and set a time before rain arrived in Q2.

Against regulations, Vettel drove onto the scales and then drove away – drivers are supposed to be rolled into and out of position with engines switched off.

Vettel gesticulated and shouted in German while the Stewards dithered somewhat, but he could find himself in trouble – and potentially stripped of his second place.

However, the German was critical of the random decision to call him into the weighbridge

He said: "They shouldn't call us when the conditions are like that, I think it's unfair if somebody gets called in. I wanted them to hurry up."

VIDEO: Vettel destroys FIA weighbridge!
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