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On a weekend that was filled with incidents and obstructions in almost every session, Sebastian Vettel just didn't get the opportunity to get settled in the car. Come race day, the German was unprepared and crashed out of the Australian GP.
Although the number of struggles faced by Vettel was alarming, Mike Krack, the Aston Martin team boss, is pointing the finger at the car more than the driver. Speaking about the German's established record in the media after the race, Krack said:
“Everything is fine with Seb [Vettel]. The fact that a driver like him, a four-time world champion, has so many problems over a weekend has nothing to do with his driving performance. It’s not normal when a driver of his caliber is off the track so often over a weekend. It has nothing to do with missing two races. He’s won several times in Melbourne. He knows where to go around here. It would be too easy to blame the performance on the two-race break.”
Krack further explained that the Aston Martin challenger surely has potential but porpoising has been a serious issue for the car. According to him, this is something that has prevented the team from making progress with the development of the car. He said:
“The car has potential, but we can’t get it out of the package at the moment. We have problems with aerodynamics and weight. We’ve already made progress with weight. Not with aerodynamics. That’s what we have to concentrate on now. Bouncing prevents it that we are making progress with the development. It’s like a wall. It’s very frustrating.”
It's only been three races so far this 2022 F1 season. The Silverstone-based outfit has 20 more races to go, within which it hopes to get on top of all its issues.
It can't get any worse: Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel was slightly more upbeat about the future as he reflected on a rather gruesome weekend for Aston Martin. Vettel said the team can now only move forward and have a better weekend after the one they've had in Australia. The German said:
“You can’t take a lot of positives from this weekend. It can’t get any worse. So the next race can only get better. I found it very difficult. Of course we’re not as fast as we want to be. Maybe I pushed the car too hard and wanted to get too much out of it. We have a lot of problems, but unfortunately no solutions yet.”
Sebastian Vettel will be hoping he and his team bring a better showing to the Emilia Romagna GP schedule for April 22 to 24 at Imola.
