Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack insists that Sebastian Vettel having a poor start to the season is not a result of limited mileage.
Vettel’s 2022 season has gone off to a rocky start, even before he got behind the wheel. He completed both pre-season tests, before testing positive for Covid right before the opening race in Bahrain.
His compatriot Nico Hulkenberg replaced him for the race in Sakhir and Saudi Arabia, but it was clear that Aston Martin were going to struggle this year. The car looked incredibly slow, both on straights and around the corners.
After his outing in Jeddah, Hulkenberg stated that Vettel would struggle with the AMR22 upon his return. It turns out that the former Renault driver knew what he was talking about.
Vettel returned behind the wheel for the Australian GP last weekend. However, all three days were catastrophic for the four-time World Champion. Engine issues on Friday limited his practice runs, which was followed by crashes on both Qualifying and the main race.
Krack, who joined the Silverstone outfit this year, insists that Vettel’s poor start is not due to him getting limited time in his car.
Also read: Charles Leclerc takes a cheeky dig at George Russell and Mercedes after the 2022 Australian GP
Krack vows to work towards helping Sebastian Vettel with the problems he’s facing
It’s not clear what went wrong with Vettel last weekend. His crashes, especially the one on Sunday, seemed to be pretty much out of the blue. Krack feels that a driver like Vettel, who has won multiple races in Melbourne, shouldn’t have lost control of his car like that.
“Fortunately, I’m happy that Seb is fine after all these incidents,” he said. “But I think, if someone like him, a four-time World Champion, has the issues that he was having this weekend . This is not down to not driving, because he has driven the car.”
A tough weekend for Seb, but we’ll keep pushing. 💚
Tap below to catch up with #SV5 as he talks Sunday in Melbourne in our race report, presented by @aramco.#F1 #AusGP
— Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) April 10, 2022
“We need to really look at what the car is providing him. What feedback he gets from the car. Him being off so much as he has been this weekend is not normal.”
“I mean, he has been a multiple winner in Melbourne. He knows where he is here, he has had some tests with the car. I think it would be really easy to say he was not there for two weekends. With a driver of that class, we really need to check what tools we are giving him,” he added.
Aston Martin go into the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in two weeks time, with zero points next to their name.
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