Aston Martin has been refused a review of Sebastian Vettel’s disqualification from the Hungarian Grand Prix following an FIA hearing on Monday.
Vettel was stripped of his second-place result at Budapest after his AMR21 car failed the FIA’s post-race checks, as it didn’t produce the required 1.0-litre sample of fuel, breaching the technical regulations.
The Silverstone-based outfit believed that 1.44 litres should have been available after the grand prix according to the Fuel Flow Meter as opposed to the 0.3 litres the FIA accessed at the time.
It was found that a fuel system failure was present in Vettel’s car, and as a result of the loss of fuel cell pressure, “a significant amount of fuel was inadvertently discharged from the fuel cell”.
While the stewards accepted that Aston Martin’s evidence at the hearing was “new”, it highlighted that the team still failed to produce the required fuel sample.
As a result of the meeting, Ferrari’s third podium result of the year stays intact, as Carlos Sainz was moved into the top three due to Vettel’s disqualification.
“For the assessment of whether or not the one-litre requirement was broken, it does not make a difference why there was less than one litre,” an FIA statement said.
“There may be a couple of explanations why at the end of a race the remaining amount is insufficient. In any case, it remains the sole responsibility of the Competitor to ensure that the car is in conformity with the regulations all times (Art. 3.2 FIA International Sporting Code) and it shall be no defence to claim that no performance advantage was obtained (Art 1.3.3 FIA International Sporting Code).
“In order to be able to affirm a ‘relevant’ fact, Aston Martin would have had to present facts that actually more than one-litre of fuel was remaining. The explanation why this requirement could not be met is not relevant to the decision as to whether a breach of the regulations has occurred.”
The appeal, which is separate to the right to review, is still understood to be ongoing.
However it is thought highly unlikely that the appeal will prove successful as in the right to review Aston Martin accepted that less than a litre of fuel was still in the car.
