09/07/2022
NEWS STORY
Sebastian Vettel has been fined €25,000 after he stormed out of Friday's drivers' briefing at the Red Bull Ring.
Vettel, left the briefing, that was held at 19:30 on Friday, without permission, said the FIA, the German expressing his growing frustration.
"Drivers are not free to leave when they want," said the stewards, "this being a breach of the requirement to attend.
"Drivers at this level are role models for every driver around the world and in the opinion of the stewards, Vettel failed to live up to that standard in this case."
Subsequently Vettel had a meeting with the Race Director, who informed the stewards that the Aston Martin driver had apologized without reservation, and that further, they had a very constructive conversation covering the topics in the meeting and more.
Nonetheless, the stewards determined that there was a breach, which could not go without penalty, but that based on the report from the Race Director there were factors in mitigation.
Consequently, the stewards ordered a fine of €25,000, which is suspended for the remainder of the 2022 season, subject to any breach of Article 20.1 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations or of Article 12.2.1 f) of the International Sporting Code.
It is unclear what exactly caused Vettel to lose his cool, but it is understood to be related to officiating and the implementation of the ules this season.
Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso was forced to apologise to FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem after he had criticised officials in Miami, the Alpine driver suggesting they lacked experience and were not suited to their roles.
Much of the criticism from the drivers this season has been about the lack of consistency, which some claim is down to the decision to have two race directors following the 'sacking' of Michael Masi.
Grand Prix Drivers' Association director, George Russell, has called for greater consistency and accountability, while also asking for the FIA to return to the previous situation whereby there was just one race director.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Spielberg here.