Sebastian Vettel revealed that he is getting more attuned to his Aston Martin car but lacks a bit of pace compared to his Formula 1 rivals.
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Four races into 2021 and it is safe to say that the Aston Martin F1 team are struggling to gain a foothold into the season thus far. The team formerly known as Racing Point were consistent midfielders last season. However, in 2021, they are being beaten for pace by McLaren, Alpine, Ferrari and AlphaTauri. The disappointment is compounded by the fact they have a four-time world champion racing for them. Sebastian Vettel revealed he is getting more attuned to his car but lacks pace compared to his rivals.
“Well, more comfortable,” he told Motorsport.com about his feeling driving the AMR21. “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.”
Vettel added that getting stuck behind Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo did not help in the slightest.
“A couple of tenths and a couple of starting positions can make a difference. 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.”
Vettel also added that the midfield battle is close and that any team making progress at the moment isn’t an easy task.
“Well, I think everybody is trying to make progress, so it’s difficult to make a lot more progress than the others. 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.”
The next race in the calendar is the Monaco GP. The race weekend will be from May 22-24.
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