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FIA will not change rules despite Vettel weighbridge drama

FIA will not change rules despite Vettel weighbridge drama

13-11-2018 17:00
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Jake Williams-Smith

Despite the chaotic scenes in the pitlane during qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, the FIA will not be changing any rules relating to the weighbridge process. Sebastian Vettel earned a €25,000 fine and a reprimand for driving on and off the scales and damaging them in the process.

Vettel and Ferrari were in a rush to fit the soft compound tyres before the rain fell in Brazil, their high-risk strategy of switching to the yellow-walled tyres a bit of gamesmanship over their rivals but the German was yet to set a time when he was called into the FIA weighbridge.

In his impatience to get to his pitbox and switch tyres, Vettel damaged the scales by driving off them rather than waiting for a push as is customary. Drivers are called in at random to be weighed during sessions under the current rules.

After the race, FIA race director Charlie Whiting maintained there was no need to change the system.

“I think all it’s done is reminded the teams that if they choose to do something like that then they run a risk," he said. "Two risks, really, in this case.

“The first one obviously was the time they spend doing a lap which is a little unpredictable. If you add another minute to that for the potential of being weighed then you need to factor that into your decision.

“What annoyed Sebastian obviously was being stopped. Ferrari did something slightly unusual. They went out one on type of tyre to explore the track as it were, came in, and there’s a risk.

“There will always a risk that you’re going to be stopped. They know that and they should factor that in. This is what I’m always telling the teams.

It should be something that they say ‘if we do this, how is this is how long it will take, we might get stopped so we have to add a minute’. It’s something they should always factor in.

“And I think it’s completely random. It’s a system that we program to say ‘we’re going to stop the first car, second car, third car, so we don’t know which cars coming in. I think Jo (Bauer, FIA technical delegate) seldom tries to stop the first car that comes in because in a short qualifying session like that the first car could be a car coming in with a mechanical problem having just done a half a lap. But to see two cars come in for strategic reasons after one lap is unusual.

It’s just the way it goes.”