After some difficulties at the start of the season, Aston Martin has chosen to introduce a major redesign of its AMR22 for this weekend’s race in Barcelona.
Its decision to adopt the same concept as Red Bull sparked a wave of controversy and even sparked an FIA investigation into copycat cars – with the green light.
However, any hopes the team had for an immediate leap forward in pace were dashed in qualifying as neither Vettel nor teammate Lance Stroll made it out of Q1.
Vettel, who was aiming to fight for a place in Q3, struggled to find a good balance and finished 16th, while Stroll is two places behind.
But, while Vettel expressed some surprise on team radio at being knocked out in Q1, it’s clear that Aston Martin’s leveling direction is the right thing to do.
“If you look at the painting [of lap times] it’s not that different, but we knew it wasn’t going to be a performance milestone right away,” said the German.
“But we believe in the concept. And we’re sure there’s more to come. It is very early. It’s basically a new car that ran yesterday, so it’s different.
“I’m still figuring it out. I thought I had a good feeling and in qualifying I was held back by, let’s say, the poor balance of the car in terms of difficulty feeling the rear, confidence in the rear of the car. It was moving too much.
“I just couldn’t handle the speeds I reached in training or thought I needed to.”
Sebastien Vettel, Aston Martin
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Vettel said he and Aston Martin just needed more time to better understand what was needed to extract more lap times from the new car.
He also suggested things weren’t helped by the warmer than expected temperatures that welcomed the teams to Spain over the weekend.
“We are starting from a new page,” he said. “We basically shook the car yesterday, so it’s very different from what it was before. I’m convinced that’s the way to go.
“I mean, I know the lap time isn’t great, but I knew it was hot. I saw after the first run that nobody was really hitting it in terms of lap times. So yeah , I was surprised because I thought I expected to be better today, somewhere around P10.
