Sebastian Vettel began the Australian Grand Prix weekend explaining how having missed the first two races of the season – due to COVID-19 – he felt like he’s ‘arriving late to school’. Unfortunately, the former 4-time F1 Drivers’ Champion has admitted that the lessons he learnt in Melbourne show he wanted ‘too much too soon’.

2022 was meant to be Sebastian Vettel’s year. New regulations, being a member of a powerhouse team desperate to succeed and having claimed a podium in 2021 made many speculate that Vettel would be in the running for a 5^th F1 Drivers’ championship.

In reality, Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team showed early on that their challenger for 2022 had issues. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel missed the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as a result of contracting COVID-19. This past weekend saw Vettel return to racing in Melbourne but has concluded with him as a memorable meme rather than someone challenging for a title.

€5,000 was the price of Sebastian Vettel’s memorable trip around the Albert Park Circuit having borrowed a scooter after an engine issue on track during Free Practice One. That then resulted in no running for Vettel during FP2 as the AMR22 was still not repaired. When his car was ready for on track running the following day, it was soon back out of action in FP3 as Vettel crashed during the session.

In a race against time aided by a red flag, his hardworking mechanics – Aston Martin’s stars of the weekend - were able to get him on track for qualifying. However, a single timed lap was all that could be achieved and with it came a starting position of P17 for the first Melbourne F1 Race Day since 2019. On top of this, Sebastian Vettel was in front of the stewards again for speeding in the pit lane and this brought another fine the way of the German racer.

Nevertheless, surely even starting from P17, with Sebastian Vettel behind the wheel, anything is possible. Sadly, not on this occasion. Sebastian Vettel’s first F1 race of 2022 was short-lived and there had already been signs of concern even before his eventual DNF.

A team radio transmission of “Sorry for that, it’s so difficult to judge the car under braking,” was heard from the former 4-time f1 Drivers’ Champion having had a trip across the gravel on Lap 11. Although, Vettel was not the first to show his car’s capability as a rally cross competitor this weekend as several other drivers drifted off-line which shows the 2022 challengers are indeed a handful.

Around Albert Park, an unforgiving circuit, mistakes are handled harshly. After one error too many, Vettel’s Australian Grand Prix ended on Lap 23 – not even half race length – with him having crashed at Turn 4. These errors, as explained post-race by Vettel to F1.com, were due to expecting too much too soon from himself and his car.

“[It was] maybe too much of a handful for me today. I tried to push a little bit too hard and obviously lost the car,” he said. “Overall, obviously we know that the car is difficult and maybe I was wanting a little bit too much too soon and obviously I lost it a couple of times this weekend.”

Unfortunately, Sebastian Vettel has lost a lot of time in the car and every lap he completes is resulting in him learning something new about Aston Martin’s package in 2022.

“[Missing the first two races] didn’t help. Obviously in race conditions it was the first time [for me] and there was a lot of stuff I picked up in the first couple of laps, but unfortunately it was a bit too short our race. We have a lot of things that we want to improve [on the car], but we don’t have the solutions yet.” Vettel concluded.

Sebastian Vettel may feel like he has arrived late to school but his next barrier to overcome is the importance of walking before running. With a 23-race season there are many points on offer and Vettel has lost none of his skill – despite clickbait articles trying to hint at him retiring.

Formula One is all the greater with Sebastian Vettel in the sport and when the solutions arrive for this troublesome AMR22, you can be sure he will be back competing near the top where he belongs.

https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/24777/f1-australian-gp-alfa-romeo-everything-is-on-the-way-up