Sebastian Vettel described his pleasure at scoring Aston Martin’s first podium finish after his difficult start to the 2021 F1 season.
After finishing second by Sergio Perez, Vettel said “I didn’t have many expectations, to be honest, [but] I knew that the whole weekend I felt good.“I knew we can score some points but I certainly didn’t expect second. The race was really strong.”
After failing to score in his first four races with the team, Vettel made a breakthrough at the previous round in Monaco, where he finished fifth.
His Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend did not begin well as he missed out on reaching Q3 by a narrow margin. Vettel was unable to complete his final lap due to Daniel Ricciardo‘s crash.
Although frustrated at the time, that gave Vettel a free tyre choice for the race. He was able to take advantage of the starting speed of a new set of soft compound tyres, moving up two places to ninth on the first lap.
He gained further ground following a Safety Car restart, passing Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly. Max Verstappen’s retirement and Lewis Hamilton’s error at the end of the race helped him take second place.
Aston Martin did not score a podium finish during their original, five-race run in F1 from 1959 to 1960. Vettel scored their first in the sixth race of their return to the championship. The team had four podium finishes last year, as Racing Point.
“I think it’s great for us,” said Vettel. “We had a very rough start to the season. We expected quite a bit more after such a strong year the team had last year. I can’t wait to get back to have a couple of drinks with the guys.”
“I think it’s always nice if you join a new team and get a good result,” he added. “I sat here on Thursday and I said that I’m in it to win and I enjoyed the race because I was getting closer and closer to the spots that I enjoy more and more.”
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2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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Niefer (@niefer)
6th June 2021, 19:22
Solid candidate for DotD.
Also, it’s nice that he made an everlasting mark on Aston Martin’s history, sharing the podium with other two teams in which he also made everlasting marks.
Fitting, for his legacy.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
6th June 2021, 19:43
After a difficult few years, culminating in that awful 2020 season, it is nice to see Vettel enjoying himself again.
Balue (@balue)
6th June 2021, 20:14
@red-andy It really was. Good recovery from Aston Martin. The car obviously kind on the tyres.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th June 2021, 22:48
Yeah, he seemed to be getting back into a groove the last 2 races already and this well deserved podium @red-andy will hopefully see him (and AM) build on that to really be in it for the rest of the season
Adunlucas (@adunlucas)
6th June 2021, 19:45
Aston is in the right path to be one of the top teams. Vettel in the right direction to be the leader of the team. Not sure if he is better than Perez. But from a marketing point, he helps more. Stroll may learn a lot from him. He can be a really fast. Don’t think he can be as good as Lewis, Max, Leclerc and Lando… But can give Botas, Perez and alike a run for their money.
Go Vettel… F1 needs you better than you have been on last 3 years.
Arjun Mehta
7th June 2021, 8:12
R u seriously trying to tell me lando Norris and Perez are better than Sebastian Vettel, an all time great and a 4 time world champion… people r very quick to forget how ocon outpaced Perez and Norris couldn’t match Sainz.. please.. just no
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
7th June 2021, 10:01
Norris couldn’t match Sainz in his rookie year; whereas Sainz is basically a veteran these days.
I think you’re forgetting how hard these cars are and that rookies take a few years to adjust and adapt.
melanos
7th June 2021, 14:27
Results phallacy. Typical. Does not say too much about the driver. The years between the blown diffuser and this Aston Martin rebirth have shown a less-than-mediocre Seb certainly nothing like an all-time great, 4 WDC notwithstanding
Giuliano Sadar
8th June 2021, 14:30
He has only 4 titles, for your information
Bill
6th June 2021, 19:54
Congrats Seb!! 👏👏👏
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
6th June 2021, 21:02
Vettel can drive race well again. Great result this.
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
6th June 2021, 22:19
Perhaps the best thing about the race is to see the recovery of a great champion like Vettel. I think it’s a joy for all formula 1 lovers.
Dave
14th June 2021, 9:44
Long time no see…
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
6th June 2021, 23:41
I agree. Good to see Vettel looking back to his old self again and being fast and competitive.
I hope those who’d written him off completely by last year are eating humble pie. He just seems to have needed the right environment.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
7th June 2021, 0:24
No humble pie him; if he performs I say he did well, if he underperforms I will criticize him, nothing changed.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
7th June 2021, 0:24
here*
Esploratore (@esploratore)
7th June 2021, 0:23
Guess everyone knows I’m one of the biggest vettel critics, however I’m surprised but he had 2 very good weekends in a row, he was performing both in quali and in the race in both races, unusual, didn’t expect more than 3 such weekends all year.
Sumedh
7th June 2021, 4:00
Indeed. The “2 weekends in a row” part surprises me too.
Since mid-2018, he has shown flashes of his old self but has failed to show any consistency. Pleasantly surprised to see this change. Hope he continues this form.
Cristiano Ferreira
7th June 2021, 1:49
I hope Seb can mantain his current form, instead of going back to the limbo he was in.
I don’t like Aston Martin as a team because of their cheating car last year and whinning about rake this season, but i’m happy for Vettel.
Hayden Lau
7th June 2021, 3:41
If im correct, Vettel is the only one in the current F1 drivers winning podiums in 4 seperate teams.
Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Ferrari, and now Aston Martin.
Hayden Lau
7th June 2021, 3:50
Actually Sergio Perez to a certain extent also achieved such record of you count Force India and Racing Point as two teams.
Sauber, Force India, Racing Point, now Red Bull.
Too bad he never got a podium with Mclaren.
milansson
7th June 2021, 12:49
Oh, this feels so good.
Such a struggle being Seb’s fan for the past years, mostly last year at Ferrari, but today felt really good.
I measured my BPM before the standing restart, it went up to 110, long time since I had such a pulse.
I hope he will be able to maintain this momentum and build on that for the following races. This triple header will be cool, looking forward!
Giuliano Sadar
8th June 2021, 14:33
The performances of Seb (Monaco even more amazing than Baku in my opinion) simply show how toxicous can be the Ferrari environment