Sebastian Vettel facing "steep learning curve" after rollercoaster start with Aston Martin

Sebastiaan Vettel in de pits tijdens de testdagen in Bahrein — Photo: © LAT Images

Aston Martin

Vettel facing "steep learning curve" after rollercoaster start with Aston Martin

Vettel failed to complete planned running in Bahrain

Ian Parkes

Monday 15 March 2021 11:09

Sebastian Vettel believes he now faces "a steep learning curve" after failing to clock up the miles he had been hoping for with Aston Martin in pre-season testing.

Vettel endured a rollercoaster three days at Bahrain's International Circuit that was affected by a sandstorm on Friday, only managing 10 laps on Saturday due to a gearbox issue, and then failing to set a fast lap on Sunday due to the AMR21 encountering a boost pressure problem.

It left Vettel suggesting he was "100 laps short" of the ideal amount of running he would have liked going into the first grand prix in Bahrain later this month, and that will likely be a difficult weekend.

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Although claiming his 56 laps on Sunday were "useful", he added: "At this stage, every lap is extremely important for me to understand the car, to know how the car will be driven and figure out the differences of my past and my future, so to speak.

"It's pretty interesting and I enjoy it, but there is still a lot I can improve and we can improve. We have to understand a great deal about the car still, about setup and so on.

"I think everybody is in the same position because with three days of running it is impossible to get everything in.

"But I think for us, especially for me, the first couple of races will be a steep learning curve, and we will take it from there."

Vettel then glossed over the fact he failed to post a quick lap in the optimal evening conditions representative of those seen in a race in Bahrain.

"It would have been helpful [to run a push lap], I didn't, but more important than one lap is trying to understand the car and for that, I think more and more laps help," added Vettel.

"Doing a push lap is just putting the things together, the lessons you learn or acquire, so I'm not worried about that.

"It's obviously a box we haven't ticked. I'm sure come the race weekend and qualifying we will see, and also the first race is the first race, and if it happens the way it is planned there are another 22 to come after that, so plenty of time.

"We will try to start off well. We had a mixed test with some hiccups but I'm always looking forward and I'm sure we'll get on top of the little problems that we had and be in a better shape in two weeks' time."