Sebastian Vettel says it will be a tricky year with 2022 work, as he concedes lap shortage but is still positive for 2021 F1 season.
Even though the regulations from 2020 to 2021 has not changed hugely, but it is still going to be a tricky season for all of the teams, as they spilt their work on the current car and the upcoming 2022 machinery – where a lot is going to be changed.
While helping Vettel to get used to the new machine in a busy year to come all-around, the last thing Aston Martin needed was a hampered pre-season testing in Bahrain. Across the three days, the German driver could only complete 117 laps in all.
On Day 1, Vettel had a gearbox issue, while on Day 3, it was a power boost trouble. This has certainly put him behind on the lap count, which he feels, makes things different for 2021 F1 season, considering the 2022 work. But he is positive still for the year ahead.
“Obviously, I would have liked to just get more mileage,” said Vettel in the press conference. “That’s the main thing. After Day 1 lack, I tried to make use of the track time later on which I felt I did and it was very good for me and I learned a lot of things, so now it’s obviously to remember all these things and give feedback and remember going forward.
“As I said I’m just short on mileage, overall is probably 100 laps that I’m short. It is 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. I didn’t have a push lap done. But to be honest, more important than one lap is to really understand the car and for that, I think just doing more and more laps helps.
“So then doing a push lap is just putting the things together, or the lessons that you learn or acquire, so I’m not, I’m not worried about that. I think as I said, it’s obviously a box that we haven’t ticked, I’m sure that come the race weekend and qualifying we’ll see and the first race is the first race and if it happens the way it’s planned, then there’s another 22 to come after that so there’s plenty of time and it will be a busy year so we try to obviously start off well.
“We had a mixed test with some hiccups,” summed up Vettel. Regarding adjusting to the car and his driving style, the German noted that it is on him to get used it as quickly as possible. In addition, he stated that the work will be double during 2021 with 2022 work.
“I will not disclose too many details but in terms of driving style I think we all have the car that we have underneath us and we have to adapt, so I think that’s not a problem,” said Vettel. “So, I’m sure it’s going to be fine. Obviously we work very hard to ensure that we have a quick car and it will be a long year, a tricky year to split the resources for this year, next year.
“Lots of challenges. Testing is certainly a very busy period, but I enjoyed it. There is still a lots of new things for me, lots of new inputs, different way of doing things. Some more advanced, others maybe a little bit behind. But yeah, I think that’s quite normal when you change teams,” summed up Vettel.
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Here’s lap count from Bahrain F1 Test
