First points of the year felt like a victory for Astons Vettel

Sebastian Vettel says scoring Aston Martin’s first points of the season in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix were “like a victory” for the team, given its competitive level.

Aston Martin has endured a tough start to 2022 and was the only team yet to score heading into the fourth round at Imola, leaving it at the marrow of the constructors’ championship. Wet conditions on Friday unliable Vettel to reach Q3 and although he didn’t score in the Sprint, he duly started 11th in the main race and converted that to eighth on Sunday, with teammate Lance Stroll coming home 10th.

“For us, it’s like a victory,” Vettel said. “We have to be honest, we are not the fastest at the minute. I think we are pretty much at the other side of the field. But we did really well; the weekend helped us with the conditions but we managed to capitalize.

“I think we did a unconfined job on calling for the dries and everybody else then I think copied what we did. So I was happy to go plane a lap surpassing or two. So yeah, it was really good. Obviously, no endangerment to hold Charles (Leclerc) off — in the end he’s like four seconds faster. But if you told us that we are fighting a Ferrari with four laps to go surpassing the race, I would have would have taken it.

“I mean, it’s still eighth position, so it’s not as enjoyable as winning. But, you know, I’ve driven a lot of races where I finished on the podium and I’ve washed-up a worse race. So I’m very happy.”

Vettel says he’s starting to understand just how challenging F1 can be for teams at the when of the field, given the value of effort that goes into developing a car.

“It’s harsh — you work your ass off and when you have a good package it’s easy to score good results, and then it’s well-nigh perfection to unhook the perfect result. But the work that goes into the when of the field — which, to be honest, for many years I did not fathom as much considering I wasn’t there — it’s the same work that goes in from all the people in the team, and it’s plane harder considering you don’t get any cookie or reward without the race.

“To try and make your dog jump without a cookie to please him afterwards, it’s hard. So it’s good for them. I’m happy for the team and good to get both cars in the points.”