Sebastian Vettel lamented the strategy choice of Aston Martin in his final outing in F1 Abu Dhabi GP but pleased with the season.
It was still a fighting end to the career of Vettel in F1 Abu Dhabi GP where he was trying to clear McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in the final stages to help Aston Martin take sixth from Alfa Romeo in the standings, but it didn’t happen as such.
The two teams were tied on 55 points and Alfa Romeo’s fifth place finish in Imola helped them to keep sixth. Vettel reckoned it was possible to beat them but the one-stop strategy didn’t work for him in the end after Lance Stroll used the two-stop to score more.
At one stage, Vettel seemed to have some pace to make the one-stop work but as the race progressed, it seemingly looked like he didn’t. “You know how it is, I wish it had been a couple more points,” he said. I enjoyed the race, it was a bit of a different warm-up to get into the race but once the lights went off it was full-on race mode.
“We didn’t go for best strategy which was a shame because we could have turned the constructors’ championship for us. Obviously we then opted to stay out and once the tyres were getting older, we were going backwards, but once we committed to the one-stop, I think that was it. But it was obviously the slower strategy today. So, not so enjoyable when you are in the car and you are going backwards.
“I was fighting through the people and had a nice battle with Daniel, but just couldn’t get close enough. But yeah, I think it’s nice also with him to fight the last couple of laps. And, you know, both of us finishing the points. So yeah, it’s been a big weekend. I am sure I am going to miss more than I understand right now.
“But overall, a big day and a big thank you to all the support, so many flags and smiling faces which has been very special, very nice,” summed up Vettel, who ended his 2022 season and career finishing 12th in the standings with 37 points.
In fact, the Alfa Romeo pair sacrificed their grand prix to allow McLaren and Alpine get ahead of Aston Martin pair. And it eventually worked as they managed to keep off Vettel at least, even if they couldn’t keep Stroll behind who ended up eighth.
“I think ultimately we didn’t have that much pace but also my strategy was very defensive so just always trying to be good towards the end of my first stint, and when the green cars come through we wanted to play with them,” Valtteri Bottas said. In the end it was too close with the points but I’m so glad we got it. The hard strategy was to wait for the Astons to stop and come through, and then we make their life difficult.”
At the same time, teammate Zhou Guanyu added: “I mean, the whole race was quite clear with the situation – if we can’t beat them on track then we sacrifice the positions to let the McLarens and Alpines clear that window. So that was the case. I stopped early, while the tyre was still fresh, but then we could be undercut by Sebastian and Lance, then we try to basically hold them up as much as possible to make a more clear window for others.
“I think it was very important that we were able to achieve that. We really gave everything out there today, and really happy for the team. Considering where we were in qualifying, Valtteri had to really try something extremely risky, a gambling strategy, while on my side I was trying to just stay up there and see if we can make a difference.
“After lap one, we always kept very similar position and that’s the best we could do. So in the end, it was super close, equal on points but yeah, I knew that every small margin makes a difference. It’s really important for the team for next year.”
Here’s Sebastian Vettel doing the donuts: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2022-abu-dhabi-grand-prix-vettel-signs-off-from-last-f1-race-with-donuts-at-yas-marina.1750029857716117607.html
Here’s how F1 Abu Dhabi GP panned out
Here’s drivers get together in Abu Dhabi for Sebastian Vettel