Sebastian Vettel is keen to carry on the momentum from Monaco to this weekend’s race in Azerbaijan.
The four-time world champion enjoyed his most competitive weekend yet with Aston Martin in Monte Carlo, using a successful overcut to finish fifth.
Perhaps that performance shouldn’t be too surprising as the slow-speed nature of Monaco negated the impact Aston Martin felt from the new floor regulations in 2021.
However, after his best race of the year, Vettel doesn’t want to immediately slip back.
“From Monaco, we travel to another street circuit, Baku, but it’s a very different challenge,” the German noted.
Also Read:
“You can overtake in Baku, and tyre degradation is much more of a factor, so, while Saturday remains important, finding a good balance for the technical sectors and the high-speed sections, while performing a strong race strategy, will be key to a good result.
“We’re coming here off the back of a good weekend in Monaco, and we want to maintain our momentum.”
As for Aston Martin chief Otmar Szafnauer, Monaco also represented the best example yet that, after a tricky start, Vettel is now feeling more at home in the car.
“He is not 100 per cent there, but he is close,” he was quoted by GPFans.
“I’ve talked to other drivers, too, who have switched teams and are going through the same or similar process and they said their guess was it was going to take about five races for them to really feel comfortable.
“My guess for Seb, I mean we are trying to predict the future, is that it will probably be in that realm too.
“He’s getting more and more comfortable in the car and the margins are really, really tight, especially in the midfield,” he added.
“If you don’t feel comfortable in the car and you don’t push it to its limits, then you are a tenth or two-tenths off.
“But he feels more comfortable in the car, and there is no more difficult track to drive than Monaco if you don’t feel comfortable.”