The four-time world champion Vettel no longer had a seat for the 2021 season after Ferrari decided against a new contract and signed Carlos Sainz Jr. as his replacement.
Before being renamed Aston Martin, the Racing Point squad pounced on Vettel and replaced Sergio Perez.
Vettel recently went to the Aston Martin F1 team factory to complete a seat attachment and meet his new engineers and crew.
The change for Vettel was due to a miserable last season for Ferrari, in which he only posted one podium and fell back to 13th place in the championship.
Aston Martin team boss Szafnauer said Vettel is still motivated to be successful in Formula 1 and is confident that the new environment can help bring out the best in the German driver.
“He is more motivated than ever before,” said Szafnauer in an interview with the German broadcaster RTL.
“He was curious, he asks us a lot of questions. He compares the way we work and work and do our work here to what he has worked with in the past.
“He will definitely help us understand the areas where other teams that have won World Cups are doing better or differently than us and he will help us to improve those areas.”
“We work differently here and treat our drivers differently than the places he comes from. Of course we will make him enjoy racing again, whatever he wanted.
“I am very confident that we will bring it to the best possible level. At 33 you never forget how to drive a racing car quickly.
“He will prove to the world that in the right environment, with the right motivation and the fun of running, he can do a great job.”
Vettel will drive alongside Lance Stroll, who scored two podiums last year and achieved his first pole position at the first Turkish Grand Prix.
While Szafnauer was confident that Stroll would learn from Vettel, he was confident that the young Canadian would push his more experienced teammates and help get the best out of both drivers.
“He will learn from Sebastian, but it won’t be easy for Sebastian,” said Szafnauer.
“Lance is really, really fast. He shows that even when it’s wet.
“What I like most about our drivers in the past is that they have worked really, really well together. I expect Lance and Seb to do the same and compete against each other first as teammates and then for seconds.
“They will learn from each other and that will drive the team forward.”
Szafnauer also indicated that Nico Hülkenberg, who appeared three times on the race weekend for Racing Point as a replacement for Stroll and Perez last year, could be considered for a role on the team.
“There’s nothing to announce yet, but take a look at this room,” said Szafnauer.
“We’re close to Nico and have talks with him. That would be great for all of us.”
