Wurz queries where cash from driver fines ends up

Grand Prix Drivers’ Association chairman Alex Wurz has joined Sebastian Vettel in querying what happens to the money paid by F1 racers in fines.

Vettel was hit in the pocket twice at the Australian Grand Prix, his first race weekend of the season having had to miss Bahrain and Saudi Arabia after contracting Covid.

The four-time former World Champion was initially fined 5,000 euros by the FIA for riding a scooter back to the pits along the track after his Aston Martin had broken down in FP1, at a time when no personnel should have been on the Albert Park circuit.

The following day, the German had to fork out another 600 euros when found to have been speeding in the pit lane during qualifying, taking his total amount of fines for the weekend to 5,600 euros (£4,631).

The 34-year-old described the scooter fine as a “joke” and also made reference to the 50,000 euros Max Verstappen had been forced to cough up for touching the rear wing of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in parc ferme at last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel to Autosport on his €5000 fine for the scooter ride:

"[It's a] joke. It would be good to know what happens to that money.

"I think we are still not aware what happened to the $50,000 that Max or Lewis or one of them had to pay for touching a rear wing." #F1 pic.twitter.com/FoBTuskhSm

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) April 9, 2022

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