€25,000 fine for Vettel’s victory doughnuts

2013 Indian Grand Prix

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The FIA has given Sebastian Vettel a reprimand after his post-race celebration at the Indian Grand Prix.

Vettel drove to the start/finish line after taking the chequered flag and celebrated his fourth world championships by performing doughnuts in front of the crowd.

As well as Vettel’s first reprimand of the year Red Bull were fined €25,000 (£21,340) for failing to instruct him to come into the pits.

“The driver failed to proceed directly to the post race parc ferme as detailed under article 43.3 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations,” said the stewards’ reports.

“Due to the special circumstance the stewards accepted the explanation of the driver. The team failed to instruct the driver sufficiently to return directly to post race parc ferme.”

Vettel celebrated in a similar fashion after winning the 2011 championship at Suzuka.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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144 comments on “€25,000 fine for Vettel’s victory doughnuts”

  1. Jack (@jackisthestig)
    27th October 2013, 14:18

    Bargain!

  2. Emotion, celebrations and fun have no place in Formula One. A worthy fine and penalty.

    1. I concur… it was in the fans interest that Vettel was weighed and his car scrutinised at the earliest opportunity.

      He should be ashamed of himself.

      1. Hang your head Mr Vettel.. Discusting behaviour!

      2. He is being sarcastic

        1. As was I ;-)

          1. It wasn´t as clear :)

          2. @celeste It was to me :)

          3. Does anyone else want to see Vettel go up to the FIA and say “Face, Bothered?”

    2. Actually it is a bit worse than that fact he did doughnuts…

      He threw his gloves away into the crowd before he had been weighed… so he could have jeopardised the weigh-in regulations.

      1. @marlarkey You’re joking right? I doubt a few grams would have “jeopardized his weigh-in” good joke.

        1. Wouldn’t matter, it would put him more at a disadvantage because he may have weighed UNDER the minimum regulated weight.

        2. @MagilaGorilla exactly as Thriller says…. if he was close on weight then he could have ended up under weight.

          The parc ferme regulations are there for a reason and there have been cases on a knife edge:
          Hunt’s tyres
          Ferrari barge boards
          Numerous fuel-related cases over recent years

          All of these swung on tiny infractions… rules is rules.

          1. @marlarkey – Vettel had just won the world championship, I doubt he would have cared. Had the FIA taken away his win due to a couple of grams it would be the FIA with the red faces and not Vettel who would probably have simply chuckled at the joke.

          2. @jerseyF1 I don’t disagree with you.. but they’ve done it before :)

    3. I mean, God forbid drivers actually act like [gasp] a human being with actual emotion! Anyway, I get that Vettel got the penally because he didn’t bring his car back to the pits, but can the FIA make it an exception in the rules if you clinch the WDC at said race?

      1. I thought the statement from the stewards made it clear that they excused his exuberance but reprimanded him simply for not bringing his car back to the pits…. so he got no punishment for the doughtnuts or getting out of the car etc…

      2. This is actually the first time that I have enjoyed seeing Vettel win the race just because of that celebration, my mood instantly went from being depressed about another retirement for Webber to a big smile on my face as Vettel swung the car around. So all I can say to FIA is what a bunch !&?@#!#%&! @$#&

  3. “Shall we deduct it from the winnings, Mr Horner?”

  4. Booooooooo FIA

    1. Yeah how dare they enforce the rules?!??!

      We should probably discuss more on why there is such a rule in the rulebook rather than boo FIA for doing its job.

      1. This was celebration of a championship. Certanly that could have being forgiven.

        It would look stupid that after a man won a 4 WDC championships he is penalized for the way he choose to celebrate.

        Is a slap on the wrist, is only Seb´s first reprimand and the fine is pocket money for RBR but it is silly and is a party pooper action

        1. pocket money for Vettel*

          1. @austus nope, I’m sure Red Bull will pay it as it’s their fine anyway ;)

          2. @vettel1 I’m just saying even Vettel alone can pay the fine, if he wants to of course. That fine is just a formality really.

    2. @celeste What will be really interesting is if footage of the donuts is included in the F1 2013 video!

      1. @tdog man, I hope so!, it was the moment with more human emotion in the season

  5. FIA = Fun Is Awful

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      27th October 2013, 17:30

      +3 :-)

    2. The FIA is on a nice little earner here, $60,000 X 2 for loose wheels on Williams, $30K+ for RBR celebrations, Thats over $150,000 in 2 weeks that come immediately to mind.
      Where does this money go, the FIA is a non-profit organisation so it’s not distributed to shareholders, maybe it’s champagne and caviar boardroom lunches.

  6. At least Williams aren’t the only ones paying for the FIA election.

  7. They seem pretty chill about it, I don’t have a problem with that. Something had to be done, and they chose the smallest possible option. All is fine.

    1. Right. Vettel did what he had to do and the FIA did what they had to do. I would expect the next driver to win 4 championships in a row to celebrate as well.

      1. The FIA didn’t have to do anything, that’s the problem. People with power who don’t use discretion are just machines.

  8. Didn’t expect anything less, or more; Alonso got a similair penalty for Valencia 2012

  9. Rules were broken, so I can understand why they had to do something. It’s an insignificant amount of money for the team, it’s mostly symbolic. They even fined the team for “failing to instruct the driver sufficiently” instead putting the blame on Vettel. I wouldn’t judge FIA too harshly on this one, they let it slide as much as they could.

    1. @ironcito – agree on the rule thing. But they could also add one where stewards are allowed to waive a penalty and give teams a chance to protest anonymously, which would automatically void the waiver (to avoid abuse).
      Sometimes the FIA should be more concerned about image and fans than rules – they already deprive fans from a championship celebration by giving the trophy during a suits only event at the end of the season – so there is room for improvement.

      1. Can you imagine how much Valentino Rossi would have had to pay throughout his career if MotoGp had the same rules?

        For those who don’t follow MotoGP V.Rossi has since he was a teenager finished his on track celebrations the way Vettel did, Rossi usually stopped on track to change into fancy dress first though.

      2. @tmf42

        the FIA should be more concerned about image and fans than rules

        I couldn’t disagree with this statement more – the FIA’s job is to set and enforce rules to make sure that we have a fair and safe sporting competition. In this case I think they did a good job, they didn’t set a silly precedent by giving no penalty and at the same time they gave a penalty that wasn’t excessive. I expect both Vettel and Red Bull are happy to accept what was given without argument.

        Vettel knew he would get a reprimand or more when he did it but clearly judged that it was worth it. Moreover this outcome was consistent with the Webber/Alonso taxi ride – a slap on the wrist was given and no more.

        1. @jerseyf1 – I think you misunderstood. I’m not saying that it’s wrong that they did enforce the current rules but they should give the stewards some leeway.

    2. Good point!

    3. @ironcito +1 – they have to be consistent, so we should be applauding them for that instead of deriding them. Maybe the reprimand is a bit harsh but it’s likely inconsequential, so I don’t think Vettel or Red Bull will care!

    4. Yep…. rules is rules

      +1

  10. Michael Brown (@)
    27th October 2013, 14:33

    Wow, that is so unfortunate.

  11. This is awful…… I mean F1 suffers as a sport to attract more fans and here we are

    Reprimands for taking a flag, Giving a ride and a Doing a Donut….. Please let there be some emotion in the sport….

    It was such a cheerful crowd, it was the last visit for F1 there and there was a Fourth WCC, WDC championship won !!! Wow….. I thought a reprimand would be the max. While $25K is loose change in RBRs pocket, it does not send the right message to the teams and the fans…..

    1. What? It sends the right message… a rule was broken and the un-biased Stewards have to enforce rule breaking, regardless of the reason.

      They could quite reasonably have thrown the rulebook at Vettel and Red Bull for numerous health and safety rules, such as reckless endangerment and the infamous ‘entered the track without the marshal’s permission between the commencement of the formation lap and the time when the last car enters parc ferme’ ruling – numerous infractions that could have well gone as far as exclusion from the event.

      As it stands, they found the most vague rule that they could, which resulted in a team fine.

      As much as it’s seen to be killing the joy, law enforcement officials have to enforce the law regardless of the context or situation.

      1. So maybe they should lighten up the rules or issue exemptions, Bernie would, he will no doubt launch a spirited defence of Sebs celebration and chide the FIA for being Killjoys, I wouldn’t put it past him to offer to pay the fine, good PR for F1, good PR for Red Bull.

        1. @hohum

          Issuing exemptions?
          It’s not like they get criticized on being inconsistent or anything.

          1. If you have permission (an exemption) you are not breaking rules, no inconsistency there.

  12. Utterly laughable.

    Get with the times, F1! Jesus!

  13. its all in the manner of safety. plus rules r rules, nobody is exempt. im glad they enforced the rule; donuts and not coming directly to parc ferme. they should of penalized him for getting outta the car too. did he leave the engine running? what if a crazed or mentally unstable fan somehow got on track and tried to operate the car…

    1. Jack (@jackisthestig)
      27th October 2013, 15:15

      ‘Unstable’ fans would probably be too busy complaining about the driver doing donuts in the first place.

      1. +1 LOL, literally LOL.

      2. Oooh! Somebody call the burn ward.

        Nice one. :)

    2. No, he switched it off. It would have got damaged otherwise

    3. @scuderia_fan85
      Haha you must be having a laugh.
      Even if you let a guy get into a running F1 car the first thing he would do would be to stall it. There is no way someone without training could just jump to the track, get in the car and drive off.
      But all that is irrelevant as there is no way he would let the car sit there with the engine running. It would just overheat, damage the engine, use fuel needed for the fuel sample, and at worst catch fire. Plus, why would he? It’s not like he planned to drive it back..

    4. And got the fastest lap back off Kimi!!!

    5. This is awesome. You realize that it takes a team of bad asses to start those things right? I mean… someone literally has to crouch down behind it, and stick a big motorized wand up the cars rear end to crank it. No way a crazy fan is going to go out and start it on track.

      You could have said “oh the increased load on the rear wheels as a result of the donuts could cause the tire to delaminate and send Pirelli death shards into the stands”. That would have at least been smart. But no, the real risk is apparently an over excite-able crackhead blitzing the grid.

  14. Thats the kind of **** that puts me of F1. Cant even do donuts without getting penalised. #********

  15. As far as I understand from the text above, only the team has been penalized for not telling him to park the car at parc ferme. So effectively, Vettel got not penalty at all.

    For me this sounds like the best the FIA could do in this moment.

    1. He got a reprimand

      1. effectively

        1. only the team has been penalized

  16. Oh ! I thought F1 had character and charm !

    This comes as a shock news…

    What a bunch of… seriously.

    1. We could learn so much about NASCAR in this aspect. Most of the times, when I try to watch it, I get the feeling it’s “overdone”.

      But at least they let the guy celebrate as he wants… In America, that’s celebrated. In the F1 world, we get reprimands and fines… same with Massa grabbing the Brazilian flag from a marshall in Brazil 2006.

      Utter dissapointment.

      1. @fer-no65
        I agree. I am no fan of NASCAR, but they sure knows how to set up a show for the fans. Both in terms of fan involvement but as you say, in the celebrations as well.
        The fans pay quite a lot to be there and watch it first hand. I don’t get what the problem with a doughnut and a bit of messing about. The track was completely empty and the fans hadn’t invaded the track either. It’s just a bit of smoke and noise. And it makes F1 seem so much more fun and real.
        And now it’s just the same clinical and over regulated cr*p like always.
        Let the guy off, he has not only won a race, but also a championship.
        Give him and his team a break.

        1. The track was completely empty and the fans hadn’t invaded the track either.

          That’s why them giving the team a very small fine. It was the minimum they had to to with keeping with the rules.

          Remember the last time something like this happened? Webber getting a lift from Alonso, he almost got hit.

          If the FIA drops it’s guard, a driver will do something stupid and get themselves hurt. And what happens then?

          Everyone complains that the FIA was too lax and demands change.

  17. Oh come on cut him some slack he’s just won the WDC for the fourth time in a row!! They should have an even bigger celebration that is held immediately after the WDC or WCC are won. He should pick a flag, do doughnuts, and celebrate as he wishes.. The official award ceremony in December should at least be live for us fans to enjoy and see. We watch every single session all season, and when it comes to the prize in the end we see nothing. Hope they change their ways and cheer up a little =)

    1. The FIA are going to have an official presentation, where no doubt Jean Todt will host a couple of hundred lackeys and influential associates to a smack-up dinner and ****** while all dressed in “Black Tie”, Sebastian will love it, he should have waited till then to celebrate and the EU25K will make a great tip for the waiters.

  18. If Vettel had see this coming and knew this would happen and still put up such a show, we should commend him for it. Not many times we get to see a driver winning 4x in a row. Such spectacular feat should celebrate in style.

    Nonetheless, the donuts, bowing to his very car and fans did spice F1 up this year.

  19. Rules are rules so it’s no surprise and even Vettel himself probably expected to get some kind of a penalty for his celebrations. However, some other racing series do allow drivers to celebrate before they “return to post race parc ferme”. Why can’t F1 do that? Is it believed that someone could do some changes to the cars / drivers before scrutineering and weighing?

  20. The next Vettel wins a race he should have a Kimi hand him a doughnut to munch on when he gets out of the car.

    1. I think Red Bull just handed Jean Todt a bunch of doughnuts.

  21. Nice comment from Adam Cooper: “Given the coverage that his display will receive the 25K is probably a small price to pay…” ^^

    1. @paeschli. Well Dietrich Mateschitz and the Red Bull marketing team must be loving this. Imagine the coverage it is getting after the fine. I mean every coverage will have the picture of a Reb Bull along with it. This is a win – win – win – win for all

      Win for Sebatian because he could celebrate his 4th WDC in style
      Win for Red Bull because it is good marketing
      Win for the fans because we enjoyed the show
      &
      Win for the FIA because fans are happy, team is happy and they get $ 30,000 for it

      Last but not the least Bernie must be loving this attention and coverage

      Wow……

  22. Pls leave the guy alone let him enjoy himself… A well deserved victory from seb… Wonderful race loved every bit of it… Vettel is a wonderful driver you just have to give it to him he is unstoppable!

  23. David not Coulthard (@)
    27th October 2013, 15:51

    I’m fine with the fine. Let’s count that as “doughnuting tax”. But a reprimand?

    1. Careful, you’ll give the Indian government ideas!

    2. Just don’t say you want to tax doughnuts in public or you might have the cops come after you :p lol

    3. Dunkin Dounuts must be thinking “well that is a great way of pricing a Donut !!!!” Maybe this is the most expensive donut in the world till date. :)

  24. I hope in the official F1 2013 season review they include the celebration AND comment on the fact he got a repremand for it.
    Its only fair for them to present the facts and not just cash in on the emotion that they are trying to stiffle.

  25. there should be a petition to drop this party pooper rule, the fans wanted to celebrate and Vettel is entitled to celebrate, doughnuts, for heaven’s sake… hardly a crime!

  26. Aside from the fact 25,000 is nothing (the guy just became a champion), and as sick as I am of Vettel, my reaction that celebration was: “whatever,” or “so what”

    I mean, the guy just won the World Championship. I don’t see any reason he shouldn’t celebrate.

  27. Just think how much Helio Castroneves woul have been fined in his career if he’d been in F1 rather than IndyCar!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA_qzswEFaM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

  28. Seriously! I understand the rules are the rules… wait… they get away with putting four wheels across the white lines but then Red Bull gets fined because Vettel wants to celebrate and entertain the fans? He just won a championship for crying out loud! Imagine if a football team or hockey team or baseball team were fined because they won their sports championship! 25,000 is a drop in the bucket for Red Bull, but still, it makes the FIA look like a bunch of prudes.

    1. @irejag I can’t speak about hockey or baseball but football players are regularly punished for overenthusiastic goal celebrations, removing their shirt etc. This brings to mind the time when footballer Paul Gascoigne was given a yellow card for pretending to give the referee a yellow card:

      http://youtu.be/anwgg–Ou-8

      1. Yes, but Vettel was not taunting or insulting anyone. He was celebrating his championship in a fun and harmless manner.

  29. It’s a stupid rule and the drivers should flout it at every race until the FIA stike it out of the rule book.

    Good on him, it’s ridiculous that a driver can be punished for showing emotion and entertaining the fans. FIA are a bunch of boring suits.

  30. worth it.

  31. I’m more concerned with how did he manage to do such good donuts with traction control?

    1. Phhh modern traction control can be turned on & off via a cellphone bluetooth connection in the pits. haha

  32. Enough.

    Im off to MotoGP.

    This sanitised rubbish they call F1 nowadays is a waste of time

    1. @taurus – I am always watching MotoGP as they show pure racing as they don’t give hardly any punishments to riders. They give out penalties for good reasons not FIA where they throw it like candies

  33. I would’ve given him a reprimand, too. As if the smog wasn’t enough, pffft…

  34. Best part of a dull race and he’s punished for it!

  35. I’m abroad at the moment and only have world news so couldn’t watch the race. However, on each of the channels I have (bbc world news, cnn and sky news) the reporter mentioned the penalty in the same light as the championship. It’s a shame that such a rule exists because it tarnishes the true bit of the news.

    I don’t blame the stewards for enforcing the rule because that’s their job. However, consider that the point of sport is to entertain and people in those grandstands probably paid a significant amount. Surprising, therefore, that such a ‘putting-on-a-show’ FIA is so concerned with a bit of emotion.

  36. I’ve never read so many dumb comments on one article/subject!

    He broke a rule. Rule maker punished him. Happens week in week out, what’s the fuss?
    At the end of the day he did what he wanted to do, it’s just a fine. A small one in relation to RBR’s funds (I’m sure they won;t mind paying this one)

  37. Not that I would want it to happen, but how ironic would it be if, by burning gas and tyre rubber off, while doing the donuts, the car would have come underweight and fail scrutiny?

    1. @svianna that thought did actually cross my mind! But I guessing since he was so far out front fuel saving wasn’t a problem.

    2. Even if he were excluded, he would have clinched the championship, as Alonso didn’t score a 1st or 2nd place.

  38. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    27th October 2013, 18:51

    To make doughnuts at the end of the race: 25 000
    To celebrate as you want and deserve: It’s priceless

    1. @omarr-pepper for everything else there’s master card :-P

  39. This is why Americans prefer Nascar…

  40. He treated those Pirelli’s with the disdain they deserved!

  41. In 2011 when he clinched the title in Japan he did some pretty impressive doughnuts in front of grandstand B. Was he pinched then as well.

  42. Idiotic fine.

  43. I enjoyed the celebration.

    But, at the same time, I completely expected some sort of penalty to be assessed. The rule is in place to ensure that the car and driver can be scrutinised to ensure there is no cheating. Vettel did delay going to the pits, interacted with a number of marshals, and ended up throwing part of his kit (his gloves) into the crowd. Technically, he could have been shedding weight during this time by passing / discarding weights from his person. I don’t actually think he was, but that is why the rule is in place.

    The reprimand and fine are very minimal, so think that the stewarts were on the mark with giving a light penalty.

    1. I have a picture in my mind of medics trying to resucitate a fan KOd by a glove, but of course that’s totally back to front as you need to make minimum weight not maximum.

  44. Post race win donuts should be allowed. Post championship donuts should be mandatory! Better promotion of the sport than anyone else has managed recently and nobody gets hurt. I’m not a Vettel fan but he did the motor racing thing at the end there, the FIA should be taking notes not handing out fines

    1. I love that. “Post-race win donuts should be encouraged, post-championship win donuts should be mandatory”!

    2. Yes. There should be special circumstances when drivers can celebrate beyond the rules.

      Winning a race at home, rare success(a rare win, podium or point), winning the WDC…

      And the way Vettel did it was the safest possible. After the in-lap… not during. He knew no-one else would be on the track by then. This should be allowed.

  45. SO AWESOME! SPIN DEM TIRES!

  46. Donuts were one of the reasons why I loved Zannardi while he was winning races in US. And Vattel also wanted to show the world that his Red Bull doesn’t have traction control…..:)

  47. C’mon 25k + a repremimant for an non-driving infringement is virtually no penalty. It’s just FIA…
    Yes, I love post race celebrations and donuts are awesome. But in the world of FIA it is the best way they could handle it.

  48. Is there usually a track invasion at Buddh?

    While I like that VET was able to celebrate, dumping the car on the circuit afterwards must have made it an unplanned logistical nightmare for organisers…

    Leave aside that he didn’t weigh in etc.

    By all means celebrate, but you still have to fulfill post-race commitments…

    1. I’m pretty sure that organizers don’t let people on the track while there are still cars on the road. At least, they didn’t anymore. It was also clear to see there was nobody on the track.

    2. unfortunately nobody is let out even during podium celebration . Only a lucky and influential few get to see .

  49. The only doughnuts are the stewards for even making an issue about this.
    Who cares if its in the rule books, get rid of the rule as its bloody stupid.
    The sport is in such a state those doughnuts were the only exciting part of the race!
    Im going to abu dhabi next week (from London!! ££££) for a race where the championship is already over, i hope there are a few more doughnuts next week, that way i will have something to look forward to!

    Actually maybe we could all tweat like crazy and get all the drivers to do doughnuts and all the fans to throw doughnuts onto the track!

    1. I’m there as well (from London too)! I’ll bring the Krispy Kremes!

  50. Whatever you call it – it was money well spent!!

  51. I bet when the fans went wild Charlie Whiting was straight on the radio to the FIA asking what they were doing! Great way to finish Seb!

  52. I love the Stewards took note of the “special circumstances” lol. Yeah, not soon to be repeated.

    I remember Vettel did a few donuts in Japan in 2011 at Turn 3 on the in lap after the race (and winning the WDC).

    Good for Vettel, great great imagery, and reminencent of the Indy 500 celebrations that have come customary (I think Nascar does it as well at times), and I don’t think anyone is going to lose sleep with the stewards giving the penalty. I wouldn’t fault the stewards for this.

    I do give kudos’ to the FIA personnel who came out to keep people away from car until it could be rolled back into parc ferme.

  53. It’s hard to improve the ‘show’ and make the sport more entertaining when every time you do something that improves the show and make things more entertaining your handed penalty’s, fines and reprimands.

  54. This is just stupid rules… I don’t care if they are the rules, I don’t like vettel, but he deserved the title and deserve to celebrate in a car fashion…. V8 supercars do donuts and burnouts every single race and there is no problem…

    If the driver throws the gloves, or the helmet, or burns his rubber whats the problem? Those behaviours will make them even lighter for the final weighting wich would make them more at risk, there’s nothing to be gained….

    This kind of penalitys are joke…. and yes yes yes yes… the rules bla bla bla… the rules simply suck… period

  55. FIA : Hey man you got four titles , you owe us some money for making you popular as we run the sport , so buddy pay up ….um….wait ……..okay….that would be negative publicity for us …so …..RBR pay up …as you have too much money . Actually Mark Webber also threw his gloves at the fans after he retired which also is a reprimand actually :-P, It could have hit someone and damaged them .

    This is ridiculous . I was so disappointed for not being able to see the donuts as I was in a different section of the track . But I heard it . And boy it was awesome !!!!!!!

  56. This is yet another nail in the coffin. The FIA have gone backwards in the last race since Singapore. Come on FIA he just won a World Championship, I don’t see a V8 Supercar driver do doughnut after they win a race like Bathurst.

  57. so webber getting picked up by alonso was dangerous and this wasnt? what is one of the mercedes hadve hit him while spinning around? penalise him 10 grid spots at next grand prix. If it was his first championship fair enough but he’s already had 3!! why all the excitement for?
    geek

    1. David not Coulthard (@)
      28th October 2013, 13:20

      so webber getting picked up by alonso was dangerous and this wasnt?

      There weren’t anybody else on track

      penalise him 10 grid spots at next grand prix.

      All Webber got was a reprimand, really. It just so hapens that it was his 3rd.

    2. @me262 all I can say is wow.

      1. @vettel1 I thought Vettel was better but thanks :)

  58. Blimey, krispy kreme are no longer the most overpriced donuts known to man.

  59. Personally, I think Vettel should be ashamed of himself. His display was a complete embarrassment, and just another example of the vast gulf of knowledge that he has about the meaning of victory… SV needs to learn that his inadequacies as a driver will not be tolerated, and frankly, I feel his fine was not nearly enough for such a blatant disregard for the spirit that should embody the F1 WDC.

    Sebastian, THIS is how you do doughnuts

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