Sunday November 14th 2021
“Inspector Seb” on the go
Vettel jokes about the Verstappen penalty
Sebastian Vettel is in midfield in the sprint qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix and ends up right behind Lewis Hamilton in the parc fermé. He recognizes the situation and slips into his role as “Inspector Seb”. That makes for great amusement.
Because he fiddled with Lewis Hamilton’s rear wing after qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday, Max Verstappen had to pay a fine of 50,000 euros. Because in the parc fermé, where the Formula 1 cars are parked after a session, only the rule guards are allowed to lend a hand. With the ruling against Verstappen, the FIA stewards want to set a precedent to prevent further inspections by the drivers. Touching cars will be expensive, should be the lesson. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t joke about it, thought Sebastian Vettel.
The four-time world champion parked his car behind Hamilton’s Mercedes after the sprint race and radioed in a good mood to his team: “I will drive Hamilton’s rear wing.” He received a worried reply: “Don’t you dare do that. It’s very expensive.” The German laughed: “I’m just kidding. I’ll try the front wing. It may only cost 25,000 euros.”
The whole action around Verstappen’s penalty and Hamilton’s disqualification found Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff, who was completely surprised by the penalty for the British world champion, less funny. At first, he thought the verdict against his driver was a “joke” from team sporting director Ron Meadows. “We will also ask questions in the coming weeks,” said the Austrian after Verstappen’s inspection of the Mercedes had apparently led to the relocation.
“Inspector Seb” is no stranger to Parc Fermé
Vettel himself has been inspecting his rivals’ cars in Parc Fermé for years, which is why he even lost the nickname “Inspector Seb”. A video by RTL reporter Marc Winninghoff, recorded at the Japan GP 2019, impressively demonstrates the activities of the “sniffer”. Unlike Verstappen, Vettel never received a fine for his inspections. Will we ever see “Inspector Seb” in action again after the chilling 50,000 euro judgment?
Before the Brazilian Grand Prix, Vettel was now satisfied with his performance in the sprint race. “We have made up a position on the starting grid. Based on that, we’ll take a look. It should be difficult to take points on Sunday. The cars behind us are faster, Lewis and Daniel, the cars in front of us usually too,” said Vettel, der starts the race from P10 on Sky. He did not want to comment on the punishment for Verstappen. When asked whether he felt the sanction to be justified, he said only briefly and tellingly: “I think it is better, I will not answer it.”