Sebastian Vettel has criticised the FIA for its “unfair” approach in calling drivers to the weighbridge, following his unusual incident during qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Vettel was called into the pit lane after his Q2 out lap on Supersoft tyres in order to take on a set of Soft rubber, with the aim of giving him and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen a different race strategy to the Mercedes drivers.
Vettel was requested to stop at the weighbridge and, having knocked a cone out of the way as he stopped, was judged to have carried out a further transgression.
FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer stated that “when called for weighing [Vettel] refused to turn off the engine.
“The car was pushed onto the scales and weighed with running engine, which makes it difficult to get a stable result.
“After weighing the driver drove off the scales under its own power, and by doing so, he destroyed the scales.
“As the driver was not following the instructions [he] further compromised the continuation of the weighing procedure.”
Vettel gestured and yelled “come on speed up” as he was waiting to be weighed, having noted the impending threat of rain that ultimately came as light drizzle later in Q2.
Vettel went on to qualify second to Lewis Hamilton but faces an investigation.
“I think it’s better if I don’t say anything,” Vettel said, before adding: “I mean they shouldn’t call us when the conditions are changing like that.
“I think it’s unfair when somebody gets called in and yeah, I wanted them to hurry up.”
Reflecting on Q3, Vettel said: “In the end I had a tiny lock up in Turn 8, I had a good start in the second attempt in Q3 but then it was a little bit too much so lost some time and didn’t improve.
“But it was very close, so it was a fun session.”
