Aston Martin reveal suspected cause of Sebastian Vettel's Hungary DQ

Aston Martin

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Aston Martin reveal suspected cause of Vettel's Hungary DQ

Vettel was stripped of second place

Ewan Gale

Saturday 28 August 2021 13:45

Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer has revealed a suspected fuel leak was to blame for Sebastian Vettel's disqualification at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The German had finished second in the final race before the F1 summer break but was disqualified after the FIA was unable to extract a one-litre fuel sample from his AMR21.

Aston Martin triggered an appeal but later withdrew it after the right to review hearing dismissed its case.

Asked what the specific issue was, Szafnauer said: "It is not quite definitive yet.

"The fuel system is in R&D but initial investigations show that there is a seal that leaked. Because of the leak, we just lost fuel that we were unaware of.

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"We were confident that we had nearly two litres of fuel - 1.74 litres of fuel - in the car but as it turned out, a significant amount of that leaked through the seal and in the end we were only able to extract 300 millilitres from the tank.

"It is a setback that nobody would want and we don't either. It is what it is and we have to look forward.

"We can't dwell on the past and [we have to] do the best we can for the rest of the races and score as many points we can with both drivers."

The disqualification and Esteban Ocon's maiden victory means Alpine sits fifth in the constructors' standings, 29 points ahead of seventh-placed Aston Martin with a projected 12 rounds remaining going into this weekend's Belgian GP.

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