Sebastian Vettel at "99 plus" per cent at Aston Martin

Aston Martin

Vettel at "99 plus" per cent at Aston Martin

Vettel is "comfortable" after nine races at the team

Ewan Gale

Monday 12 July 2021 10:35

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Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnaur believes Sebastian Vettel is at "99-plus" per cent after nine races of his first F1 season with the team.

Vettel's life at the Silverstone-based outfit started off slowly as the team battled issues throughout pre-season testing and a lack of pace left the German pointless after the first four rounds.

Three points-finishes in a row, including a Baku podium, have put Vettel into the top 10 in the drivers' standings and although two no-scores have followed in Austria, Szafnauer is convinced the four-time champion is now settled within the team.

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Asked if Vettel was at 100 per cent with Aston Martin, Szafnauer replied: "Yeah, I mean, I think he’s 99 plus.

"There’s probably more to come from Seb but he’s very comfortable, he’s working well with the team and working hard to get more performance out of the car, so we’re really happy with him."

On what has caused the upturn in form for the team, he added: "I think it’s been a few things. Number one, if you remember back, we didn’t get much running in winter testing, we had some reliability issues, we had a driver change as well and Sebastian is getting more used to the car, he’s started scoring us points.

"Some of the circuits that we went to also suited us a little bit better, and we’ve upgraded the car, so I think it’s a combination of all those things.

Aston Martin not favouring one driver for upgrades

Last season as Racing Point, Lance Stroll was handed the only set of upgrades for the RP20 at Mugello, favoured over outgoing Sergio Perez.

However, Szafnauer has insisted there is no designated driver for new upgrades to be given, adding: "We make those decisions race by race, we try to move around the parts as best we can for the team benefit.

"If there is only one of them, we give it to the driver who we think will attract most out of it."