As expected, Aston Martin has requested the right of review by officially appealing Sebastian Vettel's disqualification from the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The German was disqualified after officials were unable to extract the madated 1 litre of fuel from his car at race end.

According to Art. 6.6.2 of the technical regulations, competitors must ensure that a 1.0 litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time.

However, while the team was given several opportunities to attempt to remove the required amount of fuel from the tank, it was only possible to pump 0.3 litres out.

During Sunday's hearing, in the presence of the FIA Technical Delegate and the FIA Technical Director, team boss Otmar Szafnauer stated that there must be 1,44 litres left in the tank, but the team was not able to get it out. The figure was calculated using the FFM or injector model.

Tonight, Aston Martin issued the following:

"After Sebastian Vettel's drive to second place on the road in the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, he was disqualified from the results when a 1.0-litre sample of fuel was not able to be taken from his car after the race (a requirement as set out in the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations).

There was and is no suggestion that Vettel's car benefited from a performance advantage from the alleged regulatory breach, or that it was deliberate.

Since the team's data indicated that there was more than 1.0 litre of fuel in the car after the race - 1.74 litres according to the data - the team immediately reserved its right to appeal, and has requested a right of review alongside the appeal procedure, as a result of having discovered significant new evidence relevant to the sanction which was unavailable to it at the time of the FIA stewards' decision."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 07/08/2021 11:33

"Most petroleum based fuels accumulate moisture [ H2O ] as a condensate formed on the tank wallls due to climatic conditions. I'm not sure whether or not that occurs with the latest 'beetlejuice' used in F1. Diesel is also prone to this as I recall early engineering on diesel engines always necessitated checking the sight bowl for residues. Same with my last New Holland tractor."

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2. Posted by Max Noble, 07/08/2021 5:52

"Over time most fuels absorb water. As F1 fuel it particularly volatile I’m guessing they waited a week, having calculated the remaining fuel will have absorbed 1L of water in that time… :-)"

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3. Posted by kenji, 07/08/2021 1:59

"It appears that the rues governing this issue are quite clear. Irrespective of where the errant one litre is, it couldn't be produced...even after three hours of searching!!! That should be it really, according to the rules that were explained in detail on another tech site. If you add to that the fact that Vettel was told to stop very quickly would seem to indicate that was all was not well with the fuel situation in AMR car of Vettel. Something doesn't add up. AMR would be extremely well versed in the fine details of the R & R under which they race so why the appeal?"

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4. Posted by C5, 06/08/2021 17:58

"It's all very, very disappointing after such a great drive. But the rules are clear, have been on the books forever, and isn't a surprise to anyone. FIA has possession of the car and I assume the team have access to it under strict supervision.

So the only question to me is, have they found the missing fuel or not. If yes, an appeal seems right and appropriate, along with a description of what the problem was. If no, it's just a waste of everybody's time.

Given the wording of the statement I take it it's unfortunately the latter. "Should be there somewhere" is something you say when you lost your phone (it's always under the driver's seat. Always). To use it in a modern professional sport almost a week later is just ridiculous."

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5. Posted by Tom2681, 06/08/2021 16:33

""the team's data indicated that there was more than 1.0 litre of fuel in the car after the race - 1.74 litres according to the data"
Do they have a secondary fuel tank, like Honda in 2005? That might make things worse lol."

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6. Posted by kenji, 06/08/2021 0:38

"Nothing to say that they had found the elusive 1.4litres of 'jungle juice' residing somewhere seemingly not accessable! It all seems to be a bit murky and until more details are made available we'll just have to remain sceptical. If Vettel does lose out it will be quite a setback for him as he drove well during the race and was the lucky recipient of a podium which under normal circumstances would of been unlikely."

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Aston Martin proceeds with Appeal

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