Formula 1 has taken advantage of the summer break to publish the figures for the various fines imposed on drivers on the grid in the first part of the 2022 season and unsurprisingly it is Sebastian Vettel who came out as being the driver most in trouble with the F1 authorities. 

Using data aggregated by F1 partner Casumo from official FIA documents, we can see that Sebastian Vettel is the driver who has accumulated the most fines so far this season in Formula 1 with no less than €35,900 in fines for the four-time world champion, for offences ranging from speeding in the pit lane to a scooter ride on the Melbourne track to dangerous pit exits.

But the biggest piece of the pie came from a €25,000 fine imposed on Sebastian Vettel for his behaviour at a drivers’ meeting at the Austrian Grand Prix, while his scooter ride on the Melbourne track in Australia earned him a €5,000 fine.

After Sebastian Vettel, Spain’s Carlos Sainz has accumulated the most fines this season with no less than €25,000 so far, ahead of Red Bull driver Sergio Perez (€10,600). This is followed by a small group of five drivers who have been fined a modest €10,000 (Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, Guanyu Zhou, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen).

It is worth noting that all 20 drivers on the grid have been guilty of at least one offence since the start of the 2022 season, but several have not been fined at all by the stewards: Lando Norris, Mick Schumacher, Kevin Magnussen, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Nicholas Latifi and George Russell.

With only nine races left in the season for Vettel before he retires as a driver in Formula 1, an F1 farewell in the top ten seems unlikely for the German. There will be no more major updates to the Aston Martin AMR22.

Performance director Tom McCullough reveals, “We’ve still left ourselves a development budget. But we have already developed a lot and changed the car a lot.”

The Silverstone-based team is now already focusing on 2023.

“Development of the 2023 car is already underway,” says McCullough. Theoretically, it is possible to develop “bigger parts like a wing, but that costs a lot of money. You might as well wait until 2023”

The new F1 budget cap prevents teams from spending money uncontrollably. Aston Martin has to calculate exactly how much they still invest in the current season.

“It’s a simple question of cost-benefit ratio,” confirms McCullough.

The racing team is in a distant ninth place in the world championship, already 75 points behind fifth-placed McLaren.

For Vettel, this means that from 14th place in the championship, it will take some serious luck to move up.

The last time the German finished a Formula 1 season in 14th place was in 2007, when he only completed part of the races in his debut year. In his last Ferrari year in 2019, he finished 13th.

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