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Sebastian Vettel feels “probably 100 laps” short of what he wanted to achieve in pre-season testing ahead of his first grand prix with the Aston Martin Formula 1 team.
Four-time world champion Vettel, who has joined the team after losing his Ferrari drive, lost time on the second day of the Bahrain test with a gearbox problem that effectively cost him his entire half-day in the car.
With testing reduced to just three days in 2021, that meant Vettel basically lost one-third of his time in the AMR21 – and he ended the test on Sunday with fewer laps than everybody except Williams test driver Roy Nissany, who only drove on the opening day at Sakhir.
Vettel’s tally of 117 laps across the three days was less than half what AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly managed as the busiest driver in pre-season, a difference of over 400 miles.
“Obviously I would have liked to just get more mileage, that’s the main thing,” said Vettel after completing 56 laps on Sunday, when a reported turbocharger issue restricted his mileage again.
“Today was very busy and I tried to make use of the track time, which I felt I did, and it was very good for me and I learned a lot of things.
“Now it’s to remember all these things and give feedback and remember going forward. This is really the key.
“I’m just short on mileage and I think obviously with that we have a lot of sets tyre sets that we didn’t use just because we didn’t run.
“Overall it’s probably 100 laps that I’m short and probably something similar for Lance.
“We both obviously didn’t get what we wanted but it’s not a big deal, it’s what it is and we’ve got to move on.”
Though Vettel felt team-mate Lance Stroll was equally low on mileage, the Canadian actually managed a healthy total of 197 laps – the seventh-best of the test – despite losing some time to an electrical issue.
Pre-season lap counts
Pierre Gasly 237
Kimi Raikkonen 229
Nikita Mazepin 213
Charles Leclerc 212
Fernando Alonso 206
Max Verstappen 203
Lance Stroll 197
Antonio Giovinazzi 193
Carlos Sainz Jr 192
Esteban Ocon 190
Yuki Tsunoda 185
Mick Schumacher 181
Daniel Ricciardo 173
Sergio Perez 166
George Russell 158
Lewis Hamilton 154
Lando Norris 154
Valtteri Bottas 150
Nicholas Latifi 132
Sebastian Vettel 117
Roy Nissany 83
One consequence of Vettel’s shortened programme is he said he did not do any performance running.
However, he played down the significance of that, saying it was more important to understand the car – which is where he needed to catch up on the final day.
“Doing a push lap is just putting the things together, all the lessons that you learn or acquire so I’m not worried about that,” he said.
“It’s obviously a box that we haven’t ticked but come the race weekend and latest qualifying, we’ll see [how it goes].
“Also the first race is the first race and if it happens, the way it’s planned, then there’s another 22 to come after that, so it’s plenty of time and it will be a busy year.
“We’ll try to start off well. We had a mixed test with some hiccups. But I’m always looking forward and I’m sure that we’ll get on top of the little problems that we had and be in a better shape in two weeks’ time.”
Vettel said the completing the test with extra running was “extremely useful” as he bids to adapt to his new team, new car, and first experience with a Mercedes engine.
He also felt he benefitted from more stable weather conditions on the final day, which meant “every lap” was important in understanding the car.
Vettel expects a “steep learning curve” at the start of the season as a result, but said while he would “slightly panic” earlier in his career if he had this little preparation he is now “not too preoccupied” by it.
“If I were to panic now would it help? Probably not,” he said.
“We still got some running and for me it was super useful, the laps today. It could be better but it could be worse.
“I think it’s about remaining calm, doing one thing at a time, and moving forward when it’s time to.
“Even the people that have no trouble at all and did lots of laps, I don’t think you can acquire all the information about the new cars, the new tyres, the changes over the winter that might have been on top of that, in just one and a half days in the car.
“If anybody steps out of the car and says that after one and a half days he’s up to the speed that he was after 17 races in 20 weeks last year sort of thing…I think that’s not possible.”
