Sebastian Vettel is ‘happy’ with his fifth-placed finish as Aston Martin recorded their first double points finish of the 2021 season at Monaco Grand Prix.
Vettel spent the opening stint of the race sat seventh behind Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton but overcut the pair with his pit stop on lap 32 to rise to fifth which he held to the flag.
The former four-time F1 champion therefore was ‘happy’ with the result as teammate, Lance Stroll finished eighth with Vettel admitting that the feeling of having both driver inside the top eight felt ‘great’ on top being voted driver of the day.
Explaining why this result was the result of excellent teamwork between both drivers and team, Vettel said; “This result is down to great decision-making on the pit wall and having good pace in the car when it mattered.”
Vettel however had to hold his nerve on the run up Beau Rivage against Gasly as he exited the pits in order to defend his fifth position, with the German feeling that his two in-laps prior to his stop were ‘crucial’ in making the difference in winning the drag race against Gasly.
Aston Martin CEO and Team Principal, Otmar Szafnauer echoed Vettel’s thoughts on what he hailed as ‘a truly impressive drive’, whilst confessing that he felt that Vettel’s duel with Gasly up Beau Rivage was ‘white-knuckle stuff’ which he considered as the best highlight of the race.
Stroll meanwhile executed a great alternative strategy of running the hard tyres for the first 58 laps before switching to the softs, as he cruised to an eighth placed finish.
The Canadian though admitted that he initially struggled with the hard tyre in the opening stages, commenting; “It was not easy to race on the hard tyre in the first stint, especially at the start, but I was able to launch well off the line. That gave us a platform for the rest of the race, which came to life late in the stint as we pushed to make the overcut viable or be ready in case the Safety Car came out. ”
Come the flag, Stroll had made up five places from 13th on the grid to finish eighth (technically four given that Charles Leclerc failed to start) but he feels that he and the team ‘are still learning every race’ despite achieving a strong Monaco GP result.
Szafnauer in particular praised Stroll for showing ‘strong’ pace in a ‘gutsy performance’ on a ‘notoriously difficult’ circuit for overtaking as the highest starting driver on the hard tyre, with the other driver being AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
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