F1 | Vettel: “I’m lacking really a bit of pace to fight for points”
Vettel talked about how he feels at the moment with Aston Martin and the lack of pace they're having.
It's been a rough start for Aston Martin in F1 and even harder for Vettel having to settle in a new car and team, but he is feeling better and happier with every race, he was asked about how he feels driving the AMR21:
“Well, more comfortable,” he said. “But I’m lacking really a bit of pace to fight for points."
"I think today, with hindsight, maybe here and there we could have done something different, but I need to have a look. Overall, it’s probably a fair estimate of where we stand at the moment.
“A couple of tenths and a couple of starting positions can make a difference,” he said. “So today, unfortunately, there wasn't really a gap or a window for us. I need to have a look.
“Obviously we lost a bit of time in the first pitstop, and we were early for the second round, I was stuck behind the Alfa and then burned the tyres. So that was pretty much our race."
Aston Martin is struggling to find pace to fight with the midfield teams, being able to score only in 2 of the 4 races (P10 at Bahrain and P8 at Imola) with only one car (Lance Stroll) and having only 5 point in the Constructors Championship.
“Well, I think everybody is trying to make progress, so it’s difficult to make a lot more progress than the others,” he said.
This year the midfield fight is more competitive than in past years, with teams making good development progress.
“I was a bit surprised today with the Alpine, they weren’t very quick in the race. I expected them to be faster, because they were so much faster yesterday.
"But I think we see it’s very close. Equally the AlphaTauris were a lot faster in the race than they were yesterday. Every weekend is a bit different. And if it's so tight, maybe if you’ll feel a bit more comfortable, maybe the car suits better to the track, you find an extra one or two tenths.”
When asked about the potential of the car in Monaco, he said:
“We’ll see. Obviously to the very front runners, we’re missing downforce, so it will be difficult. But Monaco is always different, so hopefully we can make a difference.”
