» Vettel breaks Turkish law!

Vettel seemingly flouted Turkey's underage drinking laws when he drank the podium champagne...

“It’s fine to spray the stuff, Sebastian, just don’t drink any of it.” – A warning quickly forgotten, it seems…

Turkish Grand Prix race-winner Sebastian Vettel might face some problems with the country’s officials after he flouted the country’s strict underage drinking laws on the podium at Istanbul by taking a swig of champagne.

The legal drinking age in the country is 24; Vettel is just 23…

The new underage drinking laws were brought into play in January, whereby the “the age for participation in events at which alcohol is served [has been increased] to 24”, a report in Bloomberg says.

Reports in The Sun and Sunday Mirror claim the German was given strict instruction during the pre-race drivers’ briefing to avoid consuming any of the champagne on the podium.

“It had been said in the drivers’ briefing. The law is 24 and he is 23,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner confirmed.

And unlike several Muslim countries where alcohol is banned completely (and Turkey’s population is overwhelmingly Islamic) – for example, Bahrain – Turkey allows its consumption but not its advertising.

Teams such as McLaren, Sauber and Force India – the third being little more than a veritable billboard for team boss Vijay Mallya’s various alcohol empires – were all forced to run adjusted logos in place of their usual ones displayed for their liquor sponsors.

The podium champagne bottles were also stripped of their usual labels to conform to the new laws.

[Images via AUTOSPORT]