Vettel explains how his return on the scooter came about

Vettel ‘s Aston Martin stalled on track due to a Mercedes power unit problem that forced the German to briefly serve as a firefighter after parking the car and grabbing a fire extinguisher to quell white smoke.

After the end of that session, a steward offered him the use of a scooter, which the four-time champion drove back to the pits waving to the fans, at times with both hands, and with his helmet placed on his head.

However, Vettel was later investigated for “entering the track without permission” and was subsequently called to stewards for “unauthorized use of a scooter on the track”.

The regulations say that no one can go out on the track within five minutes of the end of a session, but one of the exceptions is about “drivers when they are in a car or on foot, having first received permission to do so from a marshal” .

Sebastian Vettel insisted that he was told he could return to the pits via the track.

“Obviously we had a problem, there was a bit of smoke and I lost power,” he said. “And we had to stop the car on the track. And I did my best to limit the damage and get off the track as soon as possible.”

“I tried to make sure the car didn’t get any more damage. The marshal was very helpful, he had a Leatherman. I asked for an Allen key and then we removed some of the bodywork so I could get under and cool the car, so there was quite a bit of work there”.

“I asked if I could come back as soon as I knew the car was safe in terms of not catching fire again.”

“But the session was ending and I asked, ‘Is anyone coming?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, yeah, as soon as the session is over.’ And then the guy with the scooter came over and said, ‘You can ride in the back.’

“I said, ‘can I drive it?’ Because I prefer to drive myself and he gave me the scooter and I said ‘Okay’ and he said ‘Go’. And I left.”

“I want to say that first of all I would like to get my car back and not have any problems. I’m not here to ride a scooter.”

Vettel’s team started the change of power unit in the break between sessions, but in the end they could not contest FP2.

“It stopped our show, which was painful. And unfortunately it also cost us the entire afternoon session, which is not ideal.”

“I haven’t been in the car for a long time. Also, the track is different. It will be fine tomorrow, but it would have been nice to do more laps.”