Vettel 'stopping' F1 "would not have been good" - Aston Martin

Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer believes it would have been "a shame" if Sebastian Vettel had opted "to stop" F1 at such a critical point in the team's rebirth.

Despite signing a multi-year contract upon joining Aston Martin from Ferrari at the end of last season, option clauses in the deal created complications.

As Szafnauer explained: "When you have options on both sides then it's really like renegotiating but we wanted him to continue and Seb wanted to continue.

"It's just some of the details that were changed and those had to be discussed, and it doesn't happen that quickly."

The downside for both parties is that the 'renegotiations' took longer than expected and led to a considerable amount of speculation as to whether Vettel would continue.

Szafnauer is at least relieved to know he has a settled partnership for next season that he sees as crucial given the significant overhaul to the regulations.

"I think continuity will definitely help and they work well together," added Szafnauer.

"Sebastian is now getting used to the team more so it would have been a shame for him to stop and us get somebody else that isn't used to the team.

"The team's new, the regulations are new, so it wouldn't have been good.

"Especially in an era like this it's really good to have that continuity, and we have that now with both drivers, which is great."

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