Sebastian Vettel scored solely penalty factors on a nightmare Formula One debut for Aston Martin on Sunday that did little to banish the unhealthy reminiscences of an error-prone final two years at Ferrari.
The 4 instances world champion had picked up three penalty factors earlier than he lined up final for the season-opener in Bahrain, with stewards punishing him for not respecting waved warning flags in qualifying.
Handed a five-place grid drop, he then collected one other two penalty factors and a 10-second time penalty for inflicting a collision with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon within the race.
The whole of 5 penalty factors meant the 33-year-old German, who completed fifteenth with solely rookie Mick Schumacher behind him on monitor, was almost midway to the 12 in a 12 months that set off a race ban.
Vettel had initially appeared accountable Ocon for the accident, shouting over the radio: “Why did he have to change line?”.
Stewards, nonetheless, discovered after reviewing video proof and telemetry that he was completely accountable for smashing into the rear of Ocon’s automobile.
Vettel joined Aston Martin this 12 months with hopes of restoring among the lustre to a popularity that took a battering as soon as Monegasque Charles Leclerc arrived at Ferrari as his group mate and began to outperform him.
The weekend’s occasions as a substitute left Aston Martin group principal Otmar Szafnauer, whose Canadian driver Lance Stroll completed tenth, on the defensive.
“The car he’s driving now is totally different to the car he drove before,” he mentioned, of a driver who accomplished the least laps of anybody in pre-season testing.
“He only really felt happy with the car, getting to grips with it and making set-up changes that suit him, in qualifying when he had the yellow flags.
“It’s really early days… so I’m still confident we’ll get Seb there.”
Mexican Sergio Perez, the skilled driver Vettel changed and who was making his Red Bull debut, began the race in final place from the pit lane and completed fifth.
Pressed on Vettel’s efficiency, Szafnauer most well-liked to focus on the positives.
“He had to start last, he was running in the top 10 for a while, he felt good in the car… his lap times were not dissimilar to Lance’s,” mentioned the American.
