Vettel says 2022 F1 season 'can't get any worse'

April 10, 2022

After missing the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races after testing positive for COVID-19, Vettel’s 2022 season got underway this weekend in Australia .

With that long absence in the car, the driver needed to have a lot of activity, but things started to go wrong on Friday. In FP1, Vettel had to stop his AMR22 on the track due to a loss of power, which led to an engine change that also caused him to miss FP2.

He drove just five laps on Saturday before crashing in FP3 and then being eliminated in Q1 after just one attempt when his Aston Martin team managed to repair the car at the last minute.

At the start of Sunday’s race, Vettel and team-mate Lance Stroll attempted to benefit from a safety car that came out following Carlos Sainz’s retirement to get a free stop and fit new tyres. However, on lap 23 the German driver lost control on the high exit curbs of Turn 5 and hit the nose of his car against the wall on the opposite side, having to retire.

Asked if his crash was the result of how poorly that car is driven or a lack of mileage, Vettel said “it was probably a little bit of both” but admitted he was perhaps pushing too hard in an effort to recover lost ground.

“Obviously I tried to get the best I could out of the car and looking at it now maybe I was pushing too hard,” replied the German. “Once I lost control, there was no stopping it.”

Sebastian Vettel admitted his 2022 season couldn’t get any worse, having still failed to complete a grand prix after three races.

“It was difficult not to lap, obviously partly because we lost time with the car, and then the incidents on Saturday morning didn’t help, but I’m sure it will get better.”

“It can’t get any worse,” he said.

Stroll finished 12th at the Albert Park circuit, matching the team’s best finish so far this season. And after adding Alex Albon the first point for Williams, Aston Martin is already the only F1 team that has not yet released its points locker in 2022.