Brazilian Grand Prix – Sebastian Vettel has been fined €25,000 for a weighbridge incident in the second session of qualifying at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace.
The German Ferrari driver was handed the fine after he was called to the weighbridge in Q2. After knocking over the cone at the entrance to the weighbridge that hadn’t been moved, Vettel proceeded to gesture at officials.
He was referred to the stewards by Technical Delegate Jo Bauer for ‘refusing to turn off his engine’, which caused the scales to be ‘destroyed’, after Vettel drove off under his own power. The report also stated that Vettel’s ‘refusal’ to turn off his engine ‘made it difficult to get a stable result’.
The fine was the only punishment, apart from a reprimand, for Vettel, which means he avoids any grid penalty and will start tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix from second place.
Meanwhile, 2018 world champion Lewis Hamilton avoided any penalties after two qualifying incidents that saw him debatably impede both Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin.
