Aston Martin have triggered their right to appeal against Sebastian Vettel's disqualification from the Hungarian Grand Prix. Vettel finished in second place on the road in Budapest, having kept up the pressure on race winner Esteban Ocon throughout as the Alpine driver led after Mercedes botched the timing of the switch from the intermediate to the dry tyre. But the Aston Martin driver's podium place came under threat in the hours after the race, as the scrutineers were unable to extract a full litre of fuel from the car for sample purposes, as required by the technical regulations. With only 0.3 litres extracted, the officials had no choice but to disqualify the Aston Martin. Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer lodged an intention to appeal with the FIA on Sunday evening after the race, while the team began their analysis to see whether or not to proceed with a formal appeal. Having had 96 hours to lodge an appeal, the team have decided to press ahead with the next step in the process. "There was and is no suggestion that Vettel’s Aston Martin AMR21 car benefited from a performance advantage from the alleged regulatory breach, or that it was deliberate," said a short statement from the team. "Since the team’s data indicated that there was more than 1.0 litre of fuel in the car after the race – 1.74 litres according to the data – the team immediately reserved its right to appeal, and has requested a right of review alongside the appeal procedure, as a result of having discovered significant new evidence relevant to the sanction which was unavailable to it at the time of the FIA stewards' decision."
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