Vettel calls for more tolerance over F1 fuel rules

The German lost his second place at the Hungaroring race earlier this month after post-race checks found that there was not the minimum one-litre of fuel left in his car that is required for FIA analysis.

While his Aston Martin team had been convinced on race night that enough fuel remained in his car, it subsequently emerged that a fuel leak had left the car short.

But despite accepting that the car did not have the mandatory amount of fuel remaining, Vettel believes that changes in the FIA procedures should be considered in such exceptional circumstances as he faced.

"Looking back I think it's clear, the rules are as they are, and we got disqualified," he said.

Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR21, 2nd position, is cheered over the line by his team

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

"Looking forwards, obviously it's very bitter, and I think in the circumstances that obviously I understand better, because I was the one who suffered from it, you don't wish that to anyone else to happen, it should probably have a little bit more tolerance.

"But I don't know how and what exactly you need to write down on paper in black and white. That's for other people to come up with."

Vettel said that Aston Martin had had no indication during the race that there was a fuel problem, so the post-race exclusion had come as a bit of a shock.

"It was a great result for us as a team and a lot of points that we scored, so very disappointing," he said.

"But I don't think there's much that, you know, we could have done. Obviously during the race we had the fuel under control, or we thought so.

"And, yeah, obviously at the very, very end, I think it was the last lap we found out that something might not be right.

"We were very surprised when the fuel wasn't in the car, so it's very bitter, but those are the rules. So we have to accept and carry on. It was a very big day, because also big points for us, but yeah, we obviously have lots of races now and try to squeeze some points in those."

But while the disqualification has cost Vettel his points and podium trophy, he says he is still able to look back on the race with some happy memories.

"I was on the podium, I had the hype of the race, and it's just really afterwards you're not allowed to take the reward, as in the trophy, as in the points," he explained.

"So I think that's the big disappointment. But in the moment, obviously, I was there and I had the emotions and it was a great day.

"You look back and you have nice memories, but obviously a bit of a bad taste left with knowing that you've got disqualified."