Sebastian Vettel fined €5,000 for moped incident during Australian GP practice

Sebastian Vettel has been given a €5,000 fine after riding a moped around the Albert Park circuit after the first practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion was left stranded on track on Friday after his Aston Martin suffered engine problems and caught fire towards the end of FP1.

After helping to put the fire out, the German waited trackside until the end of the session before borrowing a moped from the marshals and riding it back to the pitlane via the track and not the designated, inner-circuit route, waving to the jubilant Melbourne crowds in the process.

However, a short time later the stewards announced that they were investigating the incident and subsequently found Vettel to have ‘breached Article 26.7 of the Formula One Sporting Regulations, which prohibits anyone from being on the track in the five-minute period after the end of a session, with the exception of specifically identified personnel, which makes no provision for drivers to have such access unless specifically authorized.’

But later Vettel insisted that he was given permission to use the moped, saying: ‘I asked, “Can I get back?” as soon as I knew the car was safe in terms of not catching fire again.

‘But anyways, the session was then over, and I asked, “Is somebody coming?” They said, “Yeah, yeah as soon as the session is over,” and then the guy came with a scooter and he said, “You can jump on the back.”

‘I said, “Can I drive it?” because I prefer to drive myself. And then he handed me the scooter and said, “Off you go,” and I went.

‘I mean I would like to get the car back and not to have a problem in the first place. I’m not here to drive a scooter.’

The fine will be the least of Vettel’s concerns however, as his car was so badly damaged that he missed the entirety of the second practice session.

Vettel therefore has a lot of catching up to do after he also missed the opening two races of the season after contracting COVID-19, with fellow German Nico Hulkenberg stepping in to take his place in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

In the 34-year-old’s absence, Aston Martin have endured a dreadful start to the season, and are one of just two teams not to have scored points in 2022 alongside Williams.

Vettel, a three-time winner in Australia, will be hoping to change that when the race gets underway on Sunday morning.

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