Bahrain GP: Sebastian Vettel’s “Greatest Achievement” Was Off Track

Sebastian Vettel had a forgettable debut with Aston Martin F1 at the Bahrain Grand Prix. His weekend wasn’t notable by any stretch of the imagination. The German driver had a dismal qualifying, although Nikita Mazepin could be blamed for that. But his race didn’t get much better either.

Having been out of the points for almost the whole race, he tangled with Esteban Ocon late on, which left him crossing the checkered flag in P15. The only silver lining it what was a horror weekend was that Sebastian did his part to reduce the carbon footprint in Bahrain.

F1 reporter Ted Kravitz revealed that Vettel acted as the ‘eco-policeman’ this weekend.

Kravitz said, “Vettel’s greatest achievement this weekend has been saving a bit of CO2. Did you notice the Gulf Air 787-9’s flight path before the race? That guy was practicing in testing.

“And Seb thought this was a waste of fuel. He made a complaint to Stefano Domenicali, the F1 boss, and said, ‘look, this guys is wasting a load of fuel. I don’t like it.’

So, F1 reported the matter to Gulf Air and asked them if there was anything they could do. Gulf Air took up the concern and decided to run the testing of that very plane on sustainable bio-synthetic fuel. So Vettel ended up acting as the environment protector this weekend.

Can Sebastian Vettel bounce back in Italy?

Although he was actively involved in saving the environment this weekend, there wasn’t much he could do to save his race.

The German had to start in last place thanks to being slapped by 5 place grid penalty for ignoring double yellow flags in Q1. From there on, things scarcely got any better. He only managed to finish above F1 debutant Mick Schumacher who was in a Haas.

The performance was a far cry from what was expected of the 4-times world champion. But all hope is not lost yet, it’s still early days. And Vettel could have performed much better if it wasn’t for Mazepin’s antics in Q1.

With the next race in Italy 3 weeks away, it should give Vettel a lot of time to clear his mind. He’ll be itching to get back and show the world that performance in Bahrain was an aberration.

Also Read: Bahrain GP: Sebastian Vettel Apologized To Ocon After Unfortunate F1 Crash