Sebastian Vettel has been disqualified from the results of the Hungarian Grand Prix after his car was unable to provide the required 1.0 litre fuel sample.

The stewards heard from representatives of the Aston Martin team after the race as it was not possible to take a 1.0 litre sample of fuel from the car.

The team was given several opportunities to attempt to remove the required amount of fuel from the tank, however it was only possible to pump 0.3 litres out.

During the hearing, in the presence of the FIA Technical Delegate and the FIA Technical Director, Otmar Szafnauer stated that there must be 1,44 litres left in the tank, but they are not able to get it out. This figure is calculated using the FFM or injector model.

Given this situation, Vettel, who finished second, is not in compliance with the requirements of Art. 6.6 FIA Technical Regulations.

According to Art. 6.6.2 competitors must ensure that a 1.0 litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time.

The procedure was followed however the 1.0 litre sample of fuel was unable to be taken.

The stewards determined to apply the standard penalty for technical infringements, taking into account, that it shall be no defence to claim that no performance advantage was obtained.

Consequently, Vettel is disqualified from the results, promoting Lewis Hamilton to second and Carlos Sainz to third.

Aston Martin subsequently confirmed that they will appeal the decision.

Check out our Sunday gallery from the Hungaroring, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 03/08/2021 0:32

"@ Mickl...so no one is allowed to have or voice an alternate opinion without having to experience an 'ad hominem' attack. You have options, you can say that, IYO, that I'm wrong etc etc etc but stay away from the personal. To try and tell the government of the host country what their political positions should be is totally wrong insofar as making those accusations under the banner of F1. Personally I have no problem with what they are doing as it is their right to express themselves but not under the F1 banner. What's more I am quite disgusted that the FIA even allows it to happen."

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2. Posted by Pavlo, 02/08/2021 17:31

"I’m a Vettel fan, but unfortunately the penalty is fair.
It’s not possible to distinguish between “mistake” and “on purpose”, so while I believe AMR made just a mistake, give monetary fine and the next race they do it on purpose and gain a huge advantage. Obviously penalty has to account for an advantage one may get by having illegal fuel, not for the advantage they really managed to get.
This is a team sport, there is no and should not be any difference between mechanic who failed to unscrew the wheel and engineer who forgot to check fuel. They should have told Seb to save fuel, even though this could have costed a place."

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3. Posted by mickl, 02/08/2021 14:52

"and @kenji bigoted as well then?"

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4. Posted by mickl, 02/08/2021 14:40

"@Stitch431 are you stating Mercedes paid off/coerced the FIA to deliberately lose/not extract 700ml of fuel? I'm sure an Aston team member would have been nearby or actually doing the extraction itself.

The number of teams MB supplies engines too isn't really too hard to understand. If I'm a customer team and I'm paying out our hard earned, I'd want the best engine(at the time of purchase). I suppose you'd have opted for the Renault power unit?

Also, how did Bottas take out 6 drivers? He took out Norris, Vestappen and Perez which makes 3. Even so I do think his penalty is a little bit lenient though."

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5. Posted by kenji, 02/08/2021 10:03

"I think that the penalties got lost in translation. His DQ should have been due to the ridiculous and cringeworthy pursuit of political posturing vis a vis the alphabet people and the WRAO sloganeering. It is just so naff...."

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6. Posted by Stitch431, 02/08/2021 4:33

"The FIA seems to do everything to help influence the outcome of the World Championship...
Here is what in my opinion goes wrong: Unfortunately, Mercedes now just has too much power with regard to the number of teams that they provide with engines and/or in which Toto has shares. He can put quite a bit of pressure on the FIA with that, and from what we see how he works (he doesn't shy away from a dirty game) he will certainly use that to threaten to leave F1 if his wishes are not fulfilled. So that has nothing to do with FIAcedes or FIArrari, but simply about the distribution of power of the financial interests. Mercedes expanded that a lot last year and that has resulted in a very unhealthy balance. Yes, also Red Bull are still dwarfs compared to Mercedes and Ferrari for that matter, who happen to have enough people in key positions to intervene as soon as it is useful to them. However, they don't need that at the moment. Red Bull is unfortunately too small in that regard. I believe this imbalance is at the root of what is indeed a series of questionable decisions by the FIA in favor of MB and Hamilton. In Silverstone Toto walked to the stewards (you don't do that if you know that it's a clear race incident). Yes, he got a reprimand for that, but still, he also got what he wanted. The mild punishment of Hamilton. Yesterday again, a mild punishment for Bottas who managed to kill the races of in total 6 drivers among which both of the Red Bulls. Hopefully, for him, he will be rewarded by Mercedes with a new contract for this "teamwork". Now even Vettel is robbed of his hard-earned second place. and guess who is extending his advantage in the championship even more. Sorry guys. In my opinion, these are too many cases of "bad luck" The tires of Max blowing up in Baku were, but this is not a fair competition anymore."

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7. Posted by TokyoAussie, 02/08/2021 3:36

"I wish the fuel rules were revised. My personal gripe is mostly with the fuel flow rate rules, which I think should be dropped in their entirety. Let drivers use the fuel in the car any way they want. Let them run out of fuel on track if they use too much too often. Obviously, a sample still needs to be taken at the end of the race to ensure no fuel shenanigans have taken place, but in this day and age do they really need 1 litre for testing. It's a shame to have a race end this way."

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8. Posted by Tardis40, 02/08/2021 0:37

"Ridiculous
"

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9. Posted by kenji, 02/08/2021 0:24

"The rules are the rules and it seems galling at times when the situation, as described by Sennapod, occurs. I believe that the penalties levied should be both monetary and/or points led. It's too harsh to have a driver put in such a sterling effort only to be denied his result for something over which he had absolutely no control whatsoever, if this is the case in the particulr situation."

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10. Posted by Sennapod, 01/08/2021 21:47

"Realising this isn’t the first time this rule has been applied, eg Hamilton has also been similarly penalised in the past; but this really does spoil the sporting spectacle and once again the result the fans saw at the track, or on TV, isn’t what is recorded in the record books. The FIA needs to distinguish between those penalties which are the drivers fault and those which are the constructors fault - and points deducted accordingly. Into this latter group would fall fuel irregularities, unsafe releases and engine components. I cannot believe 700ml would have given Seb an unfair weight or performance advantage."

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