Vettel's Tire-Smoking Donuts Draw Fine After Big Win

Edmunds.com

Vettel's Tire-Smoking Donuts Draw Fine After Big Win

Sebastian Vettel clinched his fourth straight Formula 1 driving championship on Sunday and celebrated by doing donuts on the main straightaway, a move that drew a reprimand and a fine.

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The assertion that this was equivalent to an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for excessive celebration is not correct. The rule is not there to avoid unsportsmanlike conduct, but to rather to require the car procede directly to parc ferme so that no alterations could be made so that it may be inspected in its race-winning condition. Regardless, that rule is a bit pointless since the teams make a point to drive through all the clag to raise ride height and weight before inspection anyway and given that the result of any Formula One race is a forgone conclusion lately, they could use any bit of entertainment they could produce. That rule needs to be modified because fining victory celebrations is just silly.