Aston Martin acknowledges Sebastian Vettel’s contribution to the team’s progress
Aston Martin has earned five times more points this season compared to the previous one. The team has also secured eight podium finishes, thanks to Fernando Alonso. If the team has improved so much compared to 2022, it is thanks to the work of Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin's driver in 2021 and 2022.
Sebastian Vettel is no stranger to the progress of the Aston Martin team, according to the team leaders. The four-time world champion joined the British team in 2021, after six seasons with Ferrari where he did not win the world title.
During two seasons at Aston Martin, the German finished 12th in the championship. He achieved the very first podium in the history of the brand, with his second place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on June 6, 2021.
In 2021 and 2022, the team finishes seventh in the constructor’s championship. And the team learns that Sebastian Vettel will retire at the end of the 2022 season. Aston Martin has therefore recruited Fernando Alonso to replace the German.
« He is a hard worker (m)
This year, Aston Martin finished fifth in the constructor’s ranking with eight podiums and 280 points, five times as many points as in 2022. According to Tom McCullough, Aston Martin’s performance director, Sebastian Vettel has contributed to the team’s current good results. « When he joined us, he had just come from two championship-winning teams. At that time, he brought a lot of small details, emphasized Tom McCullough.
« He is also a hard worker. We often say that the driver is the best sensor of the car, and a large part of the development, you have a wind tunnel, you have simulators, offline simulations, CFD, but a driver whose back is well connected to the car can say that this is the phase of this kind of turns where I know that we struggle maybe more than others », detailed the British driver.
« It’s certain that we didn’t give him a good enough car during the two years he spent here. By the end of his second year, we were making progress. But I felt for him that he didn’t really benefit from the car this year. Over the years, this often happens. I myself have been involved in this process in the past », concluded the performance director of Aston Martin.
