After coming into the first race of the 2021 Formula 1 season under-prepared, Vettel’s race and qualifying performance revealed the extent of the German’s struggles. The four-time world champion had an incident-packed race weekend. Vettel was first found guilty of ignoring yellow flags in qualifying which gave him a grid penalty. He was then involved in a collision with Esteban Ocon during the race, for which he was given a 10-second time penalty.
Despite Vettel’s disastrous start, Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer retains full confidence in the German. The Romanian believes in the four-time world champion’s ability to get out of the downward spiral he finds himself in.
Sebastian Vettel will get over his issues: Szafnauer
In an interview with formula1.com, Szafnauer said that despite being outside the points for most of the race, Vettel showed enough pace for the team to remain optimistic for the rest of the season. Vettel matched teammate Lance Stroll’s lap times for the majority of the race.
Speaking about Vettel’s race-pace, Otmar said:
Otmar Szafnauer wants to look at the positives from Vettel’s debut at Aston Martin. The Romanian team principal was happy to see Vettel fighting for points in the early stages of the race, despite starting from the back of the grid. He maintains that it is too early to judge Vettel’s Aston Martin career.
Szafnauer believes that the German is still learning the characteristics of his new car, and deserves patience after spending six seasons at Ferrari:
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