Vettel: Fuel requirement rules should be more 'tolerant'

Sebastian Vettel says F1 teams should be given more tolerance regarding fuel sample requirements to avoid the "bitter" disqualification suffered by the Aston Martin driver in Hungary.

Vettel finished runner-up to shock winner Esteban Ocon at the Hungaroring, but the German driver was eventually excluded from the race's results when his Aston Martin team could not extract after the race the 1.0-litre minimum amount of fuel required by the rules.

The Silverstone-based outfit's subsequent right to review was also unsuccessful, leaving Vettel with a "bitter" feeling of defeat.

Ahead of this weekend's return to action at Spa, Vettel argued that the team had not benefitted from the fuel issue, suggesting the rules should allow for a margin of error in such a situation in the future.

"Well, I guess rules are rules and obviously we didn’t know we had a problem to be honest," explained Vettel.

"When we checked, the fuel wasn’t in the car and we got disqualified, we thought it was in the car so I don’t know for future whether there’s a better way to handle this but I don’t think there was much that could have been done.

"It’s very bitter because first I think we did not have an advantage; second there was no intention or no way we could explain that too little fuel was in the car.

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

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

"But what exactly you should write down on paper in black and white I don’t know, that’s for other people to come up with."

• Read also: Vettel eager 'to get the ball rolling' for points at Spa

Vettel's disqualification deprived the German driver and his team of an 18-point haul in their respective championships, a loss the Aston charger described as "a large hit".

"I mean the goal is to score as many points as you can and that takes you wherever you can, so it is a hit, it’s a large hit because obviously I think we are now something like 20 points behind the people ahead," he said.

"But you never know when the next opportunity is there, we have to be there to take it, so we will see.

"I think we have a lot of races this year, it’s a bit unclear how many and where they are but I think there will be a lot, there will be races and we will get our chances so hopefully we can use them."

On a lighter note, Vettel's exclusion in Hungary promoted Lewis Hamilton from third to second. But the Aston Martin driver revealed in Spa that he had no idea where the Hungarian Grand Prix trophy for second place, which he received on the podium, was at.

"I don’t know where the trophy is," he said. "I haven’t seen it since, so it must be somewhere.

"The champagne was done already on Sunday night, so that’s gone"!

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