He works “tirelessly”: Vettel wants to stay clean in Portugal


He works “tirelessly”
Vettel wants to stay clean in Portugal

Sebastian Vettel wants to get out of crisis mode. The Hessian is hoping for a clean Formula 1 weekend at the Portuguese Grand Prix. He wants to bring his Aston Martin closer to the maximum and understand it better. Team boss Otmar Szafnauer certifies that he has done a good job.

The wrong film by Sebastian Vettel is so long that you could easily make a multi-part out of it. Since he was disembarked from Ferrari a year ago, but actually since he was stranded in the Hockenheimer Kies as a World Cup leader in 2018, the successful saga of Hesse has taken an ugly turn.

The daredevil, who once carelessly flew to four world championship titles and was considered the man who could bring down the Schumacher records, has become an increasingly thoughtful Formula 1 veteran. Even after switching to Aston Martin, Vettel’s reality is: driving behind.

“A clean weekend” is his hope, said the 33-year-old characteristically before the third race of the season in Portimao (Sunday, 4 pm / Sky and in the live ticker at n-tv.de). And that is not an elegant understatement.

Vettel, whose driving skills are best shown to advantage with a stable rear end, does not yet feel comfortable in the AMR21. This is also due to the fact that his “Honey Ryder”, named by Vettel after the first Bond girl, can no longer be compared with the strong previous year’s car of his team, which as Racing Point came fourth in the constructors’ class after a rule amendment. World Cup reached.

Morale intact. But behind schedule

At the start in Bahrain the mistake was Vettel, in Imola the team destroyed its race before the start lights had even gone out. Team boss Otmar Szafnauer reported that Vettel’s morale did not suffer from the continuous blows in the neck and the zero-point start. His star driver, who should make the racing team a contender for victory within three years, works “tirelessly”, said Szafnauer.

Vettel was always characterized by his enormous self-propulsion, but precisely after the said Hockenheim mistake, he lacked the backing of Ferrari – which is why he decided in favor of Aston Martin and his friend Szafnauer.

The American, who has to be measured by the high standards of the brand, still keeps the pressure off Vettel. Most of all he regrets, said Szafnauer, “that we weren’t as reliable in winter as we should have been. That cost Seb a significant amount of time on his one and a half days of testing. Had he had more time, he would have been elsewhere on the Learning curve. “

After all, Vettel goes into the third round of the World Championship with a certain enthusiasm. It is “fun” to drive to the coast on the varied and demanding course, said the 53-time Grand Prix winner. “I think Portimao is a good track to better understand the limits of the AMR21,” said Vettel and admitted frankly: “I know that I’m not getting the most out of the car yet.”

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