Picture Credit: Twitter/@F1
Things did not unfold in the best of the way on Sebastian Vettel's return to the F1 season. During the Australian Grand Prix practice session ahead of the final race, the German driver's car started releasing smoke. In the first session within 30 minutes, his AMR21 went up in smoke and hence Vettel had to stop on the track citing an engine issue. But as a brief red flag was issued, Vettel didn’t take a medical car and rather opted to take a scooter to ride back to his pit stop.
But unfortunately for Vettel, the stewards didn’t take a liking to his antics as he was placed under investigation for “entering the track without permission”. The stewards have questioned the four-time World Champion under Article 26.7 of the F1 sporting regulations.
Check out Vettel riding around Albert Park on a scooter:
The regulations state that in the five-minute window after every practice session, no one is allowed on-track, at pit entry or pit exit except:
– Marshals or other authorized personnel in the execution of their duty.
– Drivers when driving or on foot, having first received permission to do so from a marshal.
– Team personnel when either pushing a car or clearing equipment from the grid after all cars able to do so have left the grid on the formation lap.
– Team personnel when assisting marshals to remove a car from the grid after the start of the sprint session or the race.
Notably, Sebastian Vettel returns to Formula One for the first time this season as he contracted with Covid-19 virus. The German was replaced by fellow countryman Nico Hulkenberg in the first two races of the season and will be debuting in this edition with Aston Martin.