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Sebastian Vettel made an underwhelming debut with Aston Martin at the 2021 Formula 1 pre-season test. The four-time world champion accumulated 117 laps but was constantly hindered by transmission and turbo issues throughout the test.
When asked how far behind he was in his preparations, Sebastian Vettel said:
"One hundred laps! Obviously, I would have liked to just get more mileage. That's the main thing."
"So today was very busy and I tried to make use of the track time which I felt I did and it was very good for me and I learned a lot of things, so now it's obvious to remember all these things and give feedback and remember going forward."
"As I said, overall it's probably 100 laps that I'm short, then probably something similar for Lance [Stroll]. We both obviously didn't get what we wanted. But it's not a big deal, it's what it is and we've got to move on."
Sebastian Vettel stressed that greater importance was put in understanding the car rather than trying to find limits on a single fast lap.
"More important than one lap is to really understand the car and for that, I think just doing more and more laps help,” he said.
“So then doing a push lap is just putting the things together, or the lessons that you learn or acquire, so I'm not worried about that."
"So there's plenty of time and it will be a busy year, so we try to obviously start well. We had a mixed test with some hiccups."
Steep learning curve ahead for Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel conceded there was still uncertainty about their position on the pecking order and that he has a steep learning curve ahead of him.
Speaking about the pecking order, Sebastian Vettel said:
"Where are we? I think it's very difficult to say in terms of competitiveness. We haven't done many runs that probably equal other people's runs to give us a bit of a comparison."
"So, yeah, I think for us the first couple of races will be especially for me a steep learning curve, but we take it from there."
The lack of mileage is not ideal for Sebastian Vettel as he joins a new team as the lead driver. The four-time champion can't afford to lose out to his young Canadian teammate Lance Stroll.
