Vettel was forced to miss the first two races of the year, in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia , after testing positive for COVID-19 . The German took advantage of the rest week between the second and third rounds of the course to recover, and this weekend he finally kicks off his season at the Australian GP.
However, the return has not been sweet, and it is when the first free practice session was facing its last 15 minutes, he suffered a problem in his Aston Martin and had to stop on the track. “Problem with the engine… no power, it’s gone,” he lamented over the radio.
After parking his green single-seater on the back straight of the Albert Park circuit, we saw the firefighter Vettel again, taking the fire extinguisher and helping the marshals to suffocate the white smoke that had arisen from the Mercedes engine.
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Vettel’s prominence did not end there, since at the end of the session he was seen touring the track at the controls of a scooter waving to the public with one hand, and with his helmet half on (or half off), which quickly sparked criticism on social media. In fact, at one point he even let go of the bike freeing both of his hands.
Shortly after arriving in the pitlane, Race Control announced that Vettel was under investigation for “entering the track without permission”.
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That leaves Sebastian Vettel at risk of being punished by the FIA, and he will have to testify before the stewards before second practice.
In addition, Aston Martin announced that after the investigation of the problem that arose, they would change the power unit of the four-time champion’s car, although still without sanction.
Article 26.7 of the F1 sporting regulations, which is included in “general safety”, establishes that in the five minutes after each free practice session, no one can be on the track, neither at the entrance nor at the exit of the pits , except:
– Commissioners or other authorized personnel in the exercise of their functions.
– Pilots flying or on foot, provided they have previously received permission to do so from a marshal.
– Team personnel, either pushing a car or removing material from the grid after all cars have left the grid on the formation lap.
– Team personnel when helping the stewards remove a car from the grid after the start of the sprint session or the race.
The Aston Martin proved to be a car without rhythm and suffered several problems in pre-season, and with Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll it is the only team besides Williams that has failed to score points in two races.
