Aston Martin too slow for points in Portugal – Motorsport Week

Sebastian Vettel says Aston Martin was “not fast enough” in Portugal when its points drought in the 2021 Formula 1 season persisted.

Vettel had a difficult start to his Aston Martin career, with a Q1 knockout and a collision in Bahrain, followed by a race at Imola that was overshadowed by technical problems.

Vettel finished a 16-race wait for a Q3 appearance in Portimao, but lost positions from 10th on the grid to Alpine Fernando Alonso, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.

The four-time world champion finished 13th, one place ahead of Lance Stroll, who was eliminated in Q1 in the updated AMR21.

“Obviously [it was a] in the end on medium for a long time, ”he said. “We had to try, in the end it’s not the strategy or anything else, I think we just weren’t fast enough to fight for points in the group.

“We have to look, but in the end we weren’t fast enough [qualifying] was a bit better, but in racing trim we just didn’t have the consistency or the speed. “

Vettel nevertheless expressed the hope that the situation can still turn.

“We understand the car better and better,” he said. “Of course we don’t have the speed a bit, so we have to work on it.”

Vettel and Stroll had swapped positions in the final phase and Aston Martin explained the situation.

“Towards the end he did [Stroll] ran just behind Sebastian ”, said team boss Otmar Szafnauer.

“But on fresher tires we asked Sebastian to let Lance pass so he could try to catch up and overtake the cars in front to give us an outside chance on one point.

“Lance didn’t manage that in the end, so he gave the place back to Sebastian in a very sporty way in the last lap.”

Aston Martin ranks a low seventh in the championship.