Still a lot to do: Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel after testing AMR22 in Barcelona

As Formula One ushers in a new era of technical regulations, teams and drivers have a long way to go before they get used to the new, more aerodynamically enhanced challengers. Former Formula One world champion and current Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel believes that the learning curve with the vehicles has only just started. The AMR22, Aston Martin’s 2022 challenger, did a total of 295 laps around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in the three-day pre-season testing session earlier this month. Despite the car breaking down in the morning session of the final day, Vettel said he was quite happy with how the car drove but noted that there was a lot that had to be done.

“There is still a lot to do, everybody is flat out and there is still a very, very steep, and high, mountain to climb,” the German racer said. “I can’t say at the minute we are seeing the peak, but it’s fun, I think the challenge is fun and the belief is there that one day we will reach that peak, hopefully just before the season.”

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“I think it is going to be a long year anyway. Everybody is probably in the same boat in terms of learning these cars and having certain troubles, but so far all is good,” he added.

Working around the driving styles

The four-time world champion is no stranger to improvising with driving styles, especially when it comes to a new type of car. He mentioned that the AMR22 requires to be driven ‘in a different way’ than its predecessors. The same is probably true for every driver on the grid at the moment with regard to their respective cars.

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“We did a good amount of laps and there’s still a lot to learn for me,” Vettel said. “The car wants to be driven in a different way, I am playing with driving styles and what I can do. Equally, we are playing with the car, we are trying to sort some problems that we have, some of the challenges that we’ve faced, find solutions,” he added.

The German also mentioned that he was pleasantly surprised when he saw the design of the cars for all teams. The fact that everyone came up with different ideas in terms of car design was something that impressed the former world champion.

“I’m surprised there is such a big difference, I was expecting the cars to look more alike,” he said. “It’s good to see that people chose different routes in philosophies in car design.”