The German finished 15th at the season opener in Bahrain and was placed in the same position after a late retirement at Imola. At the Portuguese and Spanish Grand Prix he finished 13th.
For Barcelona, Vettel had the new floor that his Aston team-mate Lance Stroll had already tried out at Portimao and, despite the disappointing result, insisted he was happier with the car.
“Well, more comfortable, but I really lack a bit of speed to fight for points,” he said when he was asked by Autosport how he felt about driving the Aston Martin.
“In my opinion [in the Spanish GP]In retrospect, we might have done something different here and there, but I have to take a look.
“Overall, it’s probably a fair estimate of where we are right now.”
Vettel noted that his race was not helped by the fact that he was caught behind Alfa Romeo by Kimi Raikkonen.
“A few tenths and a few starting positions can make a difference,” he said.
“Unfortunately there was no gap or window for us today. I have to take a look.
“Obviously we lost some time at the first pit stop and we were early for the second lap, I got stuck behind the Alfa and then burned the tires. That was pretty much our race. “
Mechanic at the start with Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR21
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Vettel admitted that it is currently extremely tight in the middle of the field.
“Well I think everyone is trying to make progress so it’s difficult to make a lot more progress than the others,” he said.
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“Today I was a bit surprised by the Alpines, they weren’t very fast in the race. I expected them to be faster because they were so much faster yesterday.
“But I think we can see that it is very close. The AlphaTauris were also much faster in the race than yesterday.
“Every weekend is a little different. And when it is so tight, when you feel a little more comfortable, the car maybe better suited to the track, you will find one or two tenths more.”
Regarding Aston’s possible form in Monaco, where Vettel won in 2011 and 2017, he said, “We’ll see. For the front runners, of course, there is no downforce, so it will be difficult.
“But Monaco is always different so hopefully we can make a difference.”
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