Vettel ‘not beating himself up’ over Aston Martin F1 struggles
The four-time world champion has endured a tough start to life at the rebranded Aston Martin squad having made the switch from Ferrari over the winter.
Following a nightmare, penalty-strewn debut in Bahrain, Vettel’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was ruined by having to start from the pit lane after Aston Martin encountered brake issues on both its cars just before the race.
Vettel also picked up a time penalty because his team was working on his car too close to the start of the race before a gearbox problem ultimately forced him to retire in the closing stages.
The German has been outpaced and outscored by Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll at the opening two races of 2021 so far but Szafnauer has faith that his star signing will soon get up to speed.
"I think he's fine," said Szafnauer. "He has very high expectations of himself and he will work tirelessly to get better and move up that learning curve.
"But he's not beating himself up, so to speak. He'll just take that bit of frustration, and he'll be even more determined to get up to speed quickly.
“It wasn’t his fault at all that we unfortunately burned his rear brake ducts and cake tins. It was so close to actually replacing them on the grid without having to start from the pitlane, and then the penalty. After that, he had no chance really. And that wasn't his fault.”
Vettel is still trying to get comfortable with the AMR21 following a limited amount of pre-season testing and faces a similar challenge to other drivers who have moved teams during the winter, including Sergio Perez, who was signed by Red Bull after being replaced by Vettel at Aston Martin.
“If the car philosophy is completely different then it does take time,” Szafnauer added.
"Having talked to Checo too, he's gone to a Red Bull, which has a different philosophy to ours and he says the same, that it's just gonna take seat time to be able to get to those fine, fine margins of getting the most out of the car.
"It's just that simple. The more seat time, the better. Seb, because he had the penalty, he was never really in contention.
"But after he put the slicks on, he was doing some really quick lap times. So I think he's getting on top of the car and he’ll just get better better."
