Otmar Szafnauer heaped praise on new signing Sebastian Vettel, saying that he has left a great impression on the team in 2021.
Vettel joined Aston Martin from Ferrari at the beginning of the 2021 season. He had a mixed debut season with the team, but the highs were absolutely dizzying.
The high in question was a romp from P11 to P2 at the Azerbaijan GP. The four-time world champion picked up his first podium for Aston Martin and their first podium in F1. He has had moments of brilliance, but the less we talk about the Hungarian GP, the better.
Nevertheless, Szafnauer heaped praise on Vettel, and said that his debut season hit all the right notes.
“He’s been brilliant,” the Aston Martin team principal said, as quoted by Planet F1.
“He’s such a man of integrity; he works hard, has a great work ethic, leaves no stone unturned. The engineers like working with him, the mechanics love him as a person, he’s just a genuine guy. And that goes a long way in life.
“I’ve known him for 15 years, everyone else talked about him in the same manner that I’m talking about him now. I wasn’t surprised but I was still delighted to have what I thought he was confirmed by his actions.”
Adapted
“It took him four races or so to get to know us, to know the car, the powertrain, and since (then) he’s done a good job,” he added.
“I think his greatest quality as a racing driver is just relentlessly working at getting quicker and quicker and quicker. He even does that in the race.
“When he starts a race he will look at other drivers, the lines they’re taking, and will try things within a race to be able to go quicker or save tyres more or whatever you have to do. That to me is his biggest asset.”
Read more: Vettel critical of the impression Abu Dhabi GP left for new F1 fans