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Sebastian Vettel has been summoned to the Formula 1 stewards for the unauthorised use of a scooter on the track after his Aston Martin suffered an engine failure in Australian Grand Prix practice.
The four-time F1 world champion stopped on-track with smoke coming from his Mercedes-powered AMR22, causing a red flag.
Fireman Seb is quickly on the scene 👨🚒🧯#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/eGiOUX98zf
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 8, 2022
Vettel grabbed a fire extinguisher to use on the smoking car, then after the session finished borrowed a moped to ride back to the paddock himself – using the track itself to do so.
“Obviously we had a problem and there was a bit of smoke and we lost power so we had to stop on the track and then I did my best effort to limit the damage and get it off the track as soon as possible,” Vettel explained.
“It stopped our running, which was painful and unfortunately it also cost us the whole session in the afternoon, which was not ideal – I haven’t been in the car for a while. Plus the track is different. It will be fine tomorrow but it would have been nice to get more laps.”
The scooter element of the incident was placed under investigation but it took until the second half of FP2 for the stewards to issue an official summons.
F1 just isn't the same without Seb, is it? 😂
Big smiles and a little show for the crowd as he makes his way back to the pits at the end of the session 🙌#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/O2q5b9kUqL
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 8, 2022
He is due to see the stewards at 17:45 local time, 45 minutes after second practice ends.
This is Vettel’s first race weekend of the 2022 season as he missed the first two after contracting COVID-19.
He did not complete a lap in FP2 because Aston Martin had to change his engine.
Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have both been summoned to the stewards as well, for allegedly impeding Lance Stroll.
