“We really need to check what tools we are giving him,” Aston Martin to investigate Sebastian Vettel’s “abnormal” weekend in Australia

“We really need to check what tools we are giving him,” Aston Martin to investigate Sebastian Vettel’s “abnormal” weekend in Australia

Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel’s first visit to Australia with Aston Martin ended in a way that would be beyond his wildest dreams. The German’s weekend was filled with multiple challenges, including a power unit issue and later a DNF during the main race.

Vettel’s first issue with the car came during the FP1 when his AMR22 caught fire. Following this issue, he had to sit out the entire FP2. And as the team got his car ready for FP3, he crashed into a barrier, severely damaging the front of the car. He barely made it to the Q1, where he qualified P18 for the main race, where he crashed, and thus his return to F1 after sitting out on two races went from bad to worst.

And as it should be, Mike Krack, Aston Martin’s team principal, termed the weekend “abnormal.” He rightfully said, “He would agree with me that him being off so much as he was at the weekend is not normal, and I do not think it is related to him having missed two races.”

FS Video

Mike Krack’s view of Sebastian Vettel’s situation

Sebastian Vettel's AMR22 after crash at the Australian GP
Sebastian Vettel’s AMR22 after crash at the Australian GP

The team principal agrees there’s a problem with the car, and that would be resolved with Seb’s help. The veteran and four-time champion driver can’t be put at fault and especially when he’s a three-time race winner in Melbourne.

Mike said, “If someone like him, a four-time world champion is having these issues he was having over the weekend, this is not down to not driving because he has driven the car. This is really something that we need to really look at, at what car we provide him, what feedback he gets from the car.”

He concluded by saying, “He has had some tests with the car, so it would be easy to say ‘Ah, he was not there for two weekends. A driver of that class, we really need to check what tools we are giving him.”

Aston Martin and Sebastian Vettel have a long way to go in this season. The team is the only one on the grid which is yet to win a point. But with plenty of races left this season, they can surely hope to make a comeback in the latter stages.

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