Sebastian Vettel admits that long ago, he was dismissive about the teams’ efforts at the back of the grid before he joined Aston Martin.
In 2022, Aston Martin became the last team to score points on the table. Something not justifiable to the Silverstone based team, which has been aiming for the pinnacle of F1.
But amidst the current problems at Aston Martin, it has made Sebastian Vettel that the teams at the back of the F1 grid work equally hard. However, their job is not even frantically rewarding.
This realization was absent in Vettel’s initial years. The four-team world champion has been fortunate enough to be representing top teams like Red Bull and Ferrari, and this is for the first time he’s representing a side which currently doesn’t go for wins.
“It’s harsh, you work your arse off and when you have a good package it’s easy to score good results and then it’s about perfection to deliver the perfect result,” said Vettel.
“But the work that goes in at the back of the field, to be honest, for many years, I did not appreciate as much because I wasn’t there. But it’s the same work that goes in from all the people in the team.”
“And it’s even harder because you don’t get any cookie or any reward after the race. So try and make your dog jump without a cookie to please him afterwards, it’s hard. So it’s good for them and I’m happy for the team. Good to get both cars in the points as well.”
Also read: Sebastian Vettel unsure about his future with Aston Martin
Imola’s result was a victory for Sebastian Vettel
The win at Imola was more surreal than anything. After continuous struggles of the team, Vettel claims that a P8 in Imola was no less than a victory for him.
“It’s like a victory,” he said. “We are not the fastest at the minute, I think we are pretty much at the other side of the field. But today we did really well.”
Meanwhile, Vettel also talked about quickly letting his former teammate Charles Leclerc overtake him. The German replied that Ferrari is around three seconds faster than him, and it only made sense not to complicate things.
However, he said had it been for a win in the dying laps of the race, Vettel would not have let Leclerc go ahead without a tough fight.
Also read: Throwback to when Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel met Imola’s famous lucky paddock cat Formulino
