Aston Martin believe it "evident" why Sebastian Vettel is four-time F1 champion

Aston Martin

Aston Martin believe it "evident" why Vettel is four-time F1 champion

Vettel has so far proven himself with Aston Martin

Ian Parkes

Tuesday 16 March 2021 12:43

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Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer believes Sebastian Vettel has made it evident why he is a four-time Formula 1 champion in his short time with the team.

Vettel was left frustrated by his lack of running across the three days of the pre-season test in Bahrain, clocking up the lowest number of laps in just 117 of all the F1 drivers, leaving him what he felt was "100 laps short" of where he needed to be.

The 33-year-old German was hampered by sandstorm conditions on day one, a gearbox problem on day two and finally a boost pressure issue on the final day that prevented him from getting in a fast lap.

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But despite the problems, Szafnauer has no doubt Vettel has underlined his credentials in the two-and-a-half months he has been with the team since his move from Ferrari.

Asked whether he could see why Vettel has won his four titles and 53 grands prix, Szafnauer replied: "Yeah, absolutely.

"He is settling in well with the team, his feedback is very detailed and very precise. The engineers get very good feedback from him.

"He's got a great work ethic and he pursues every little bit of performance we can go after, and for that reason, it's evident why he has won all those races and championships."

Szafnauer has conceded the "few challenges" faced by Aston Martin in Bahrain were far from helpful, restricting the team to just 314 laps in total, only 11 more than bottom-of-the-pile Mercedes.

Szafnauer is convinced the team has at least achieved one of its aims. He explained: "We lost a bit of track time with some technical issues over the weekend, especially for Sebastian, but that’s one of the reasons why we go testing.

"One of the main tasks was to continue helping Sebastian settle into the team and we’ve made a lot of progress already."

At least team-mate Lance Stroll was able to "gain some useful data on the long runs, race simulations and shorter runs", according to Szafnauer, which he feels has left the team "well placed to come back for the race [in Bahrain] later this month".