Vettel, a four-time world champion, contracted COVID-19 ahead of the Bahrain GP last week and it seems like his recovery is not yet complete.
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It seems like Nico Hulkenberg’s Formula One season is not over yet. The services of the Aston Martin reserve driver have been called upon by the team as regular driver Sebastian Vettel has not been cleared. Vettel, a four-time world champion, contracted COVID-19 ahead of the Bahrain GP last week and it seems like his recovery is not yet complete. It will be the first time Hulkenberg will experience the Jeddah street circuit.
It was a tough day at the office for Aston Martin last week as both Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll finished outside of the points. The German, however, did complete the race and manage to finish ahead of his teammate. “It was interesting,” he said after the race.
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“It was difficult, very difficult to be honest – first time [racing] obviously in a long, long time. There’s so many things happening in the race, it’s so dynamic, the car balance is changing, the fuel load is changing, so it’s difficult to keep up with all these changes and stay on top of things.”
As per Aston Martin, Vettel is currently at his home recovering from the disease but is expected to be back in the car for the Australian GP weekend, April 8 to April 10.
Ferrari enjoyed a dream start to the 2022 Formula One season as they recorded a 1-2 finish at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. Charles Leclerc finished in first place after getting pole position in qualifying. Teammate Carlos Sainz had a bit of luck on his side but he also had an excellent drive finishing P2 for the Scuderia. The surprise on the podium was seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in third place. Mercedes have had to deal with a slew of problems since pre-season testing and nobody expected them to finish on the podium. However, failures of both Red Bull cars saw the silver arrows finishing third and fourth to round off a good day of racing.
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It seemed at one point that Red Bull would get at least one driver on the podium as Max Verstappen seemed comfortable in P2. The Dutchman had a few opportunities to overtake Leclerc early on in the race but was overambitious and failed to get the job done. The reigning champion grew exceedingly upset with the car as the race went on and with only three laps to go, due to a power steering issue, had to retire his car.
At that point, it was up to Sergio Perez to get the podium for Red Bull. However, on the very last lap, the Mexican’s car just stopped due to a lack of power, allowing Hamilton and everyone else to get past him. It was indeed a bad day at the office for Christian Horner and Red Bull.
