Aston Martin F1 team principal and CEO Otmar Szafnauer believes they can get the best out of Sebastian Vettel and allow him to enjoy the driving again, but also warns him that it won’t be easy for him against new team-mate Lance Stroll who is ‘very, very fast’.
After six years at Ferrari, where he was twice runner-up behind Hamilton, Vettel joined the Aston Martin team, which finished fourth in the constructors’ standings last year under the name Racing Point and had the third fastest car on average.
Perez was again faster than Stroll, although the Canadian made a lot of progress, so in many races he was very close to Perez or even faster than him, winning three podiums and a pole position on the wet Istanbul Park.
Szafnauer believes that Stroll will learn from the four-time world champion Vettel, but also that it won’t be easy because he is very fast.
“I am very confident that we will bring him to his best level,” Szafnauer told about Vettel for RTL.
“At 33, you don’t forget how to drive a race car fast. It will show the world that he can do a great job in the right environment, with the right motivation and enjoyment of racing.”
“Lance will learn from Sebastian. But it won’t be easy for Sebastian. Lance is very, very fast.”
“First and foremost, they will be teammates, and only then opponents. They will learn from each other and lead the team forward.”
“I expect the same from Lance and Seb.”
“Seb is more motivated than ever, he will definitely help us understand in which areas the teams that have won titles are doing a better or different job than us. It will help us improve in those areas.”
Szafnauer says Aston Martin’s goal for 2021 is third place in the constructors’ championship after they failed to clinch third place last year due to failures, penalties, strategy and driving errors.
“We should have finished third so it makes sense to aim for third place again this year,” he said.
“But it would be great if we could fight Red Bull and Mercedes.”
