Sebastian Vettel has been reprimanded and fined by the FIA for his failure to follow instructions during the weighbridge procedure in Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying, but has kept his front-row grid spot.
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 further transgressions.
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 went on to progress through to Q2 and qualify second, after which he criticised the FIA for its “unfair” timing of the call.
Stewards investigated and deemed his actions worth of a reprimand, his first of the season, and a fine of €25,000, but he has kept his grid position.
"The Stewards reviewed the video evidence from the on-board camera and pit lane CCTV, viewed team engine telemetry and heard from the driver of car 5 (Sebastian Vettel) and team representative," read a statement.
"The Stewards first considered whether there was a breach of Article 29.1.a.i. As the driver both stopped at the FIA Garage and eventually stopped the engine, although not at the time usually expected in the established procedure, and a weight was obtained, these elements satisfy the requirements of the regulation and therefore the Stewards find no breach of this article.
"Nevertheless, the officials give directions to the drivers at the scales in order for the weighing procedure to be accomplished in an orderly and safe way, without the possibility of damaging the scales.
"The Stewards observed that the driver did not stop the engine at the time he was directed by the official at the scales, knocked over the cone placed to stop the driver from driving onto the scales, which he then did. At the time he was being shown a sign to have his “Brakes On” by an official that was standing in front of the car, and while not hitting the official did force him out of the way while driving onto the scales. He then turned off the engine.
"Once the weight was taken he then did not wait for the officials to push the car off the scales, and while the Stewards accept that he may have mis-understood the indication from the official, he then re-fired the car and drove off the scales, which is not the procedure because it can damage the scales, which in this case he did.
"While no one was hurt by the scales being thrown out from behind the car, and while the Stewards accept that the driver did not drive off the scales in a reckless manner, the procedure is established exactly to prevent damage to the scales or a potentially dangerous situation, which is exactly what was caused.
"The Stewards found that the driver failed to follow the instructions of the relevant officials for the safe and orderly conduct of the Event and order a Reprimand (Non-Driving) and a fine of €25,000."
