Sebastian Vettel made a great recovery after a first lap disaster to finish P10 in the Losail Circuit. However, the German was not satisfied with the outcome as he could be heard telling his engineer after the race on the radio. The Aston Martin driver did not have a good qualifying session either. He had to abort his final lap after Pierre Gasly suffered a puncture in the final sector of the track.
Vettel started 10th on the grid for the main race on Sunday and came home in the same position. However, he lost seven places coming out of the first chicane and it took him the whole race to recover from that start.
Sebastian Vettel disappointed by the first lap disaster
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The German finished four places behind his teammate after starting ahead of him. Vettel went wide towards turn 1 and lost places. The four-time world champion told his engineer that he had a visibility issue going into turn 1.
Not the start he wanted, but what a comeback from Seb. 💪
Debrief the #QatarGP with #SV5 below.
— Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) November 21, 2021
“Sorry about that one. I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t see s**t going into turn 1 and we lost the rear. It’s not great from my side and then we were basically last,” said the German after passing through the chequered flag. “It is frustrating because the car was quick, especially when we were in clean air, and that helped me recover to P10,”
He was disappointed for not being able to maximize the results. Vettel was optimistic about the good recovery but wanted better results. “It is great to see both cars in the points today so there are many positives to take away from the weekend.”
Aston Martin had some positives this weekend
Apart from Sebastian Vettel, Stroll had a strong finish for the team. He finished in the sixth position after starting from P12. With his best finish this year so far, Stroll is now 11 points behind his teammate sitting next to him in the drivers’ standing. Moreover, the Aston Martin showcased a solid pace, with both the drivers gaining positions at the end.
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“The car felt very good today and I am very happy with our performance. I made up a couple of places on lap one and over the first stint it was clear that we had the pace to perform well,” said Stroll after the race.
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What did you make of Vettel’s performance?