“It’s probably 100 laps that I’m short”- Sebastian Vettel views a steep learning curve after possessing the lowest mileage among the 20 drivers.
For the first time in his Formula 1 career, Sebastian Vettel is running on a Mercedes’ power unit on Aston Martin’s AMR21. Yet, he had the lowest mileage in F1’s pre-season testing in Bahrain.
The former Ferrari man could only cover 117 laps, half as many as Pierre Gasly, who was the busiest driver. On Sunday, Vettel could only do 10 laps due to a gearshift issue.
“It was instrumental in having more laps today,” said Vettel. “The track was in a better condition as well, more consistent. At this stage, every lap is crucial to understand the car,” he added.
“To understand how the car wants to be driven, to figure out the differences between my past and my future, so to say.” Vettel further said that he and his teammate would be needing more time to settle in the new car.
“There’s still a lot that I can improve, and there’s still a lot that we can improve,” said Vettel. “We have to learn obviously a great deal about the car still, when it comes to set-up and so on.
“But I think everybody’s in the same position because with three days of running; it’s impossible to get everything in. I think for us, the first couple of races will be, especially for me, a steep learning curve, but we’ll take it from there.”
Need 100 laps more
With limited run time at Bahrain, when asked how much more time on the track he needs to be proficient with his Aston Martin car, Vettel quoted at least 100 laps more.
“Obviously, I would have liked to get more mileage. That’s the main thing. Today was hectic, and I tried to use the track time, which I felt I did. And it was perfect for me, and I learned a lot of things.”
“So now it’s obviously [important] to remember all these things and give feedback and remember going forward. This is the key. As I said, I’m just short on mileage, and I think obviously with that, we have a lot of tyres sets that we didn’t use just because we didn’t run.”
“Overall, it’s probably 100 laps that I’m short and probably something similar for Lance; 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.”
