Grand Theft Auto: Vettel summoned to the stewards after commandeering a scooter

Sebastian Vettel amusingly took a scooter back to the pits after his engine failure during FP1 in Melbourne.

Aston Martin F1 driver Sebastian Vettel has received one of the more bizarre FIA summons we are likely to see this year after he commandeered a scooter during FP1 in Melbourne.

Vettel has returned this weekend after missing the opening two rounds of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia through COVID, and he put 18 laps on the board in the first practice session on Friday before an engine failure cut his invaluable running short.

He lived up to his “fireman Seb” nickname when he grabbed a fire extinguisher to deal with the smoke emanating from the back of his stricken car, before taking one of the marshals’ scooters and completing the rest of the lap back to the pits.

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He had his helmet resting on the top of his head while making his way round under the red flag conditions his incident had caused, and the stewards were not impressed.

“The driver and team representative are required to report to the Stewards at 17:45 in relation to the incident below,” said the summons.

“Alleged breach of Article 26.7 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations by the driver of Car 5. [Vettel], unauthorised use of a scooter on the track at 14.04.”

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda will also have to report to the stewards’ room this evening after suspicions that he had held up Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at Turn Two.

“The driver and team presentative are required to report to the Stewards at 18:00 in relation to the incident below.

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“Alleged breach of Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations by Car 22 [Tsunoda], unnecessarily impeding Car 55 [Sainz] at 16.20,” said the stewards.

The unusual incident for Vettel follows on from the equally surprising race director’s notes ahead of the weekend, which banned jewellery from being worn while racing.

“The wearing of jewellery in the form pf body piercing or metal neck chain is prohibited during the competition and may therefore be checked before the start,” reads 5.1 of the notes this weekend.

The general consensus is that the note refers to Sir Lewis Hamilton, who is sometimes seen wearing noticeable jewellery.