Sebastian Vettel jumped from 13th on the grid to ninth on the first lap, then gained a further place as Fernando Alonso overtook.
He moved up another place when he overtook Kevin Magnussen at pit stops having been one of the first to switch to dry tyres, and was seventh for much of the race. He then moved up one more position when Charles Leclerc spun, but saw both Yuki Tsunoda and Leclerc pass him with more speed.
The German’s eighth place and team-mate Lance Stroll’s 10th are Aston Martin’s first points of their troubled 2022 season.
“It’s like a victory,” admitted Vettel. “We have to be honest, we are not the fastest at the moment. I think we are more or less on the opposite side of the grid. But we did very well, the weekend helped us with those conditions, but we managed to take advantage of it.
“I think we did a great job putting the tires on for the dry, and I think everybody else copied what we did. So I was happy that I even stopped a lap or two earlier. So yeah, it was very, very good.”
“And obviously, there was no chance of stopping Charles at the end, he was like four seconds faster, or three seconds. If they had told us we were going to be fighting a Ferrari with four laps to go in the race, I would have signed him. “.
“I mean, it’s still eighth, so it’s not as much fun as winning. But to be honest, you know, I’ve done a lot of races where I’ve finished on the podium doing a worse race. So I’m really happy.”
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR22 en boxes
Vettel recalled that the result was achieved with a car that is still difficult to drive and lacks pace.
“We didn’t improve anything in performance,” he said. “We had a problem with the steering feeling . And we were able to improve it slightly for this race. But it’s still painful.”
“I think if you look at the on board , our car is very difficult to drive and even on the straights, you have to be focused. So yeah, that’s the way it is. But therefore it’s very tasty, very sweet to achieve this result.”
Vettel acknowledged that scoring points with both cars was a major boost for his team, especially after a tough weekend at the Australian GP in which there were four crashes between the two drivers.
“Very important. I mean, it’s hard, you work hard and when you have a good car it’s easy to get good results,” he said. “And it’s about perfection to get the perfect result.”
“But you know, the work that goes on at the back of the grid which, to be honest, for many years I didn’t appreciate as much because I wasn’t there, but it’s the same work that all the people in the team do.
“And it’s even harder, because you don’t get any treats or rewards after the race. So trying to get your dog to jump without offering a treat before or after to please him, is hard! So it’s good for them. And yes, I’m happy for the team and good to have both cars in the points.”
