Vettel fined by stewards after ‘failing to live up to standards’

Sebastian Vettel received a €25,000 fine over his behaviour in the drivers’ meeting, having been summoned before the stewards in Austria.

The four-time former World Champion was called up before the stewards on Saturday evening on the grounds of having allegedly broken Article 12.2.1.f of the International Sporting Code which is defined as using “any words, deeds or writings that have caused moral injury or loss to the FIA, its bodies, its members or its executive officers, and more generally on the interest of motorsport and on the values defended by the FIA”.

The verdict reached by the stewards is that Vettel did commit the offence and they gave him a suspended fine of €25,000 for doing so.

“The driver, Sebastian Vettel, left the drivers’ meeting that was held at 19:30 on Friday 8 July without permission and expressing frustration at the meeting,” read the verdict.

“Drivers are not free to leave when they want, 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.

“Subsequently, Vettel had a meeting with the Race Director, who informed the Stewards that Vettel had apologised without reservation and that further they had a very constructive conversation covering the topics in the meeting and more.

“The Stewards determine 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, suspended for the remainder of the 2022 season, subject to any breach of Article 20.1 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations or of Article 12.2.1 f) of the International Sporting Code.”

Vettel’s frustrations are understood to be linked to the policing of track limits and inconsistency in approach by the two race directors, Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas – the German driver had his fastest time of Q1 deleted on Friday evening and was knocked out.

Commenting on the incident, an Aston Martin spokesperson told PlanetF1: “Yesterday evening Sebastian left the drivers’ meeting before its conclusion and without the permission of the race director.

“Sebastian was called to see the FIA race director this morning alongside a team representative and offered his apologies. As such, we have accepted the stewards’ issuing of a suspended fine.”

Having retired from Sprint Qualifying on Saturday, Vettel is set to start Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix from the back row of the grid.