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The 2021 F1 Season.

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IanW said:
I was merely reporting what Otmar had been reported to have said. Whilst I can clearly see Otmar saying that, I cannot see him saying that an appeal would be a good thing to do. He has worked in F1 for 23 years, mainly in senior positions and so knows the score.

Just to be clear the FIA scrutineers will have followed the process that they have used for years to get fuel samples out of all the race cars. I cannot remember the last time there was a failure to get the required fuel sample out.

Unless AM can prove the equipment or the process was faulty, I cannot see that they have any chance of winning the appeal.
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I agree with Ian. Perhaps AM are playing for time and hoping to identify an appeal reasoning, otherwise they might end up withdrawing it. I am sure Red Bull Whinge and Christian Moaner will be trying to help them out as best possible. RB might even appeal themselves.

Ian - surely the low fuel level would be flagged up on the pit wall and that information relayed to the driver? Or has AM missed something here?
 
Stuart Frazer said:
Ian - surely the low fuel level would be flagged up on the pit wall and that information relayed to the driver? Or has AM missed something here?
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Stuart, having 1.74l of fuel left in the tank would be considered a very good result in terms of minimising the weight of the car throughout the race for performance reasons. At other teams that I am aware of, the fuel load is monitored very carefully on a lap by lap basis with the driver being advised as to when to save fuel etc.

Another relevant point is that from a strategic viewpoint they must have seen that Lewis was going to get through the field quickly and VET would most likely be racing him towards the end. So saving a bit of fuel and not spending 34 laps very close to OCO would have put him in a better place to fight Lewis (both tyres and engine). ALO did a very good job delaying Lewis, but counting on that was very risky.
 
Thanks Ian. I understand AM say there was 1.44 litres of fuel left in the car, but there is no explanation as to why the FIA scrutineers could only extract 300ml. Something doesn't add up on that. As you state, perhaps VET used too much fuel running close to OCO and also at the end when HAM was closing in. ALO certainly did a good job blocking HAM, I thought it was good hard racing, but HAM eventually forced the mistake and got past. If that had happened a bit earlier, HAM would probably have had a chance at the win. I got the impression that HAM didn't want to push his luck too far with ALO given that VER was way back in the field and only scoring small points. I think HAM viewed the bigger championship picture and didn't want to risk a coming together and possibly ending up with nothing.
 
IanW said:
Yes, under supervision of the FIA scrutineers, following the FIA procedure.

But as Stuart has said, something does not add up here, and was exactly what I thought as soon as I heard Otmar's comment.
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I dug into this a little and the procedure is extremely proscriptive, I think it changed in 2014 to stop teams basically stripping the car down and wringing every last drop from it. The regs currently are:

6.6 Fuel draining and sampling :

6.6.1 Competitors must provide a means of removing all fuel from the car.

6.6.2 Competitors must ensure that a 1.0 litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the Event.
After a practice session, if a car has not been driven back to the pits under its own power, it will be required to supply the above mentioned sample plus the amount of fuel that would have been consumed to drive back to the pits. The additional amount of fuel will be determined by the FIA.

6.6.3 All cars must be fitted with a –2 'Symetrics' male fitting in order to facilitate fuel sampling. If an electric pump on board the car cannot be used to remove the fuel an externally connected one may be used provided it is evident that a representative fuel sample is being taken. If an external pump is used it must be possible to connect the FIA sampling hose to it and any hose between the car and pump must be -3 in diameter and not exceed 2m in length. Details of the fuel sampling hose may be found in the Appendix to the Technical Regulations.

6.6.4 The sampling procedure must not necessitate starting the engine or the removal of bodywork (other than the nosebox assembly and the cover over any refuelling connector).

Slam dunk I fear.
 
After all these years of it being an ever present threat….

Very different in many way ways, but I’ve been involved with the extraction of fuel from the tanks of many Apache helicopters before they’re loaded onto C-17s for transportation. You get to know how much fuel is still in there, where it’s hiding, and whether it’s worth pursuing. And I’m not clever! I have a real problem with AM not being able to squeeze out another 700ml ‘if’ it really is in there.
 
An update on injured Brands Hatch marshal situation.

I posted following Tony Lockhart's post that a second marshal was in intensive care. Fortunately I was given some incorrect information. This second marshal was standing 2m from the marshal that died and as a result of the accident, has a broken arm, which has been operated on today.

Brands Hatch is thought of as fairly safe for marshals, with Silverstone safer still due to the larger run off areas. But both circuits have dangerous areas and need to be made safer. Hopefully the Brands accident will result in improvements in safety at all UK circuits.
 
The excellent Motorsport piece Gareth linked above states that AM say there was 1.74 litres left before the FIA took out 300ml and couldn't extract any more. AM tried themselves without success and they now think the lift pump on the car has failed. Accordingly, there should be 1.44 litres left in the car. However, I don't understand why the team asked Vettel to stop out on track after the race ended and they also apparently asked him to save fuel towards the end of the race.
 
And that’s what raised suspicions.
It looks like they’re clutching at straws. They know there will be some in there, and if they’re lucky there’ll be enough, but they’re wriggling like cut snakes.
 
Binotto declared that crashrepairs should be paid by driver's team that is declared guilty of the crash and should not be exempt of the budgetcap. Mercedes would be in trouble that way after 2 races with judgement errors causing huge damages to other teams cars. What is the penalty for exceeding budgetcap?
 
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