Vettel's Runner-up Status At The Hungarian GP Has Been Stripped For Violating Fuel Regulations

JAKARTA - Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel lost his runner-up status at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday following his disqualification for violating the post-race fuel sampling rule.

The four-times world champion from Germany finished 1.8 seconds behind French driver Esteban Ocon who claimed his maiden Formula 1 win for the Alpine team.

Vettel failed to get his car into the pit lane because it ran out of fuel and had to run to the parc ferme for the podium ceremony.

Under technical regulations, competitors must ensure that at least one liter of fuel sample can be taken from their car at all times during the race, but only 0.3 liter can be taken from Vettel's car after the Hungarian race is over.

The disqualification decision means Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton inherits the runner-up spot, and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz is entitled to a podium finish in third place.

Vettel's disqualification moves Lewis Hamilton up to second, with Carlos Sainz claiming the final podium placeFull story ️https://t.co/xIv3wSkYH3

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2021

The top ten drivers who finished behind Vettel moved up one place each, and Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen moved up from P11 to P10 to take home the final point.

With the change, Hamilton got an additional point to widen his gap as the leader of the standings with an eight-point advantage over Verstappen, who finished in P9.

"After the race it was not possible to sample 1.0 liter of fuel from car No. 5," the steward said in a statement as quoted by Antara from the official Formula 1 website.

"The team was given a number of opportunities to try to extract the required amount of fuel but it could only be pumped out 0.3 liters."

BREAKING: Sebastian Vettel has been disqualified from the #HungarianGP, losing his second placeStewards were unable to take the required amount of fuel for sampling following the race pic.twitter.com/Cbts8m9R0f

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2021

Aston Martin reserves the right to appeal to the race supervisor within the stipulated timeframe.