Sebastian Vettel - '10 years ago I would have panicked' over Aston Martin situation

Sebastian Vettel

Vettel - '10 years ago I would have panicked' over Aston Martin situation

Vettel completed the fewest laps in pre-season testing

Ian Parkes

Wednesday 17 March 2021 12:44

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Sebastian Vettel believes he would likely have panicked a decade ago if he had emerged from pre-season testing in the situation he now finds himself in with Aston Martin.

Of the 20 full-time drivers on the grid, Vettel completed the fewest number of laps - 117 - at the end of the three days at Bahrain's International Circuit due to a variety of issues.

In switching teams from Ferrari to Aston Martin, Vettel has encountered what he has described as "a different environment, different people, a different philosophy of running the car, [and] it's a different power unit".

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By his own admission, he finished "100 laps short" of the amount of running he felt was required to at least feel more comfortable going into the first race in Bahrain on March 28.

Suggested to Vettel it was unprecedented in his F1 career to be heading into a new season with so little track time, he replied: "Yeah, it is, but I'm not too pre-occupied.

"Maybe it's the age, maybe it's the experience. Probably 10 years ago I would slightly panic now, but then again, if I were to panic now, would it help? Probably not.

"We're just trying to do our things and use the time now we have. We still got some running, and for me, it was super useful. It could be better, but it could be worse."

Vettel insists it is "about remaining calm", and "doing one thing at a time and moving forward when it's time to" ahead of the season-opening race which will likely be a tricky one for the entire team.

The 33-year-old, though, feels the one and a half days virtually every other driver experienced, regardless of whether they ran smoothly or not, was not enough.

"Even the people who had no trouble at all and did lots of laps, I don't think you can apply all the information about the new cars, the new tyres, the changes over the winter that might have been on top of that in just one-and-a-half days in the car," added Vettel.

"Plus, let's be honest, our sport is quite difficult to practice. We need to be in the car, we need to run.

"You can do simulator all winter long, but it's not the same, so if anybody steps out of the car and says that after one and a half days he is up to the speed he was after, I don't know, 17 races in 20 weeks last year, sort of thing, I think that's not possible.

"It will naturally take a little bit of time to get up to speed. For sure, some people need more, some need less."