Aston Martin requests review of Vettel disqualification after "new evidence" discovery

Sebastian Vettel on the podium in Hungary — Photo: © LAT Images

Aston Martin

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Aston Martin requests review of Vettel disqualification after "new evidence" discovery

FIA was unable to retrieve an adequate fuel sample

Ian Parkes

Thursday 5 August 2021 20:09 Updated: 20:15

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Aston Martin has requested a right of review of Sebastian Vettel's disqualification from the Hungarian Grand Prix and has initiated the appeal procedure after discovering "significant new evidence".

After finishing second at the Hungaroring, the FIA was unable to retrieve a litre of fuel from Vettel's AMR21 as required by the regulations, instead only managing 0.3 litres.

That resulted in Vettel being disqualified, promoting Lewis Hamilton into second place behind race winner in Alpine's Esteban Ocon.

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Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer declared at the time there remained 1.44 litres of fuel in the system the FIA could not extract due to an issue with the lift fuel pump.

That problem resulted in Vettel being forced to stop his car at turn 12 on the in-lap at the end of the race.

After lodging its intent to appeal, Aston Martin then had 96 hours to confirm whether it would formally protest - until 22.14 on Thursday, August 6 - and has now opted to pursue a case.

A team statement read: "After Sebastian Vettel’s drive to second place on the road in the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday August 1st, he was disqualified from the results when a 1.0-litre sample of fuel was not able to be taken from his car after the race (a requirement as set out in the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations).

"There was and is no suggestion that Vettel’s Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team AMR21 car benefited from a performance advantage from the alleged regulatory breach, or that it was deliberate.

"Since the team’s data indicated that there was more than 1.0 litre of fuel in the car after the race – 1.74 litres according to the data – the team immediately reserved its right to appeal, and has requested a right of review alongside the appeal procedure, as a result of having discovered significant new evidence relevant to the sanction which was unavailable to it at the time of the FIA stewards' decision."