The 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix didn’t go the way the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team may have wanted.
With Sebastian Vettel having to sit on the sidelines due to a positive COVID test, reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg being almost thrown into the lions’ den due to not having driven the car outside of a simulator before last weekend and technical challenges negatively affecting the performance of the AMR22, the opening round of the 2022 Formula 1 season was a trial by fire for Aston Martin.
That hasn’t stopped Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll from feeling at least some positivity from the results of this difficult weekend.
“It is a shame we were not able to fight for points today, but we will benefit from completing our first race and understanding more about these new regulations,” said Stroll.
“It is early days and there is lots to learn about how we can extract more performance in time for the race in Saudi Arabia next weekend.”
Even though Stroll struggled a lot with the car’s performance, he felt that the new regulations made the racing more enjoyable. He also feels that the data the team gathered from the on-track troubles will be very useful as the season progresses.
“My initial impression is that it could be an exciting season of racing because it appears that you can follow cars more closely and today I had some great battles with [Alex] Albon and [Mick] Schumacher.
“It was challenging to keep temperatures cool and manage these new tyres, too, but we now have some useful data to work with over the next few days.“
“It was interesting to be back in a Formula One car for a Grand Prix again, especially in such a busy race with lots going on around me,” said Hulkenberg about his first Formula 1 race since the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix.
“It was not easy to manage the tyres and drive with a changing fuel load. The car balance was changing a lot too, and it is not easy to prepare for this until you start racing.
“We knew that today was likely going to be the most difficult day in the car for that reason, which proved to be the case. I think I put together a good race, all things considered, with only the one mistake when I outbraked myself into Turn One. It was a more challenging race after that.
Hulkenberg also took the time to wish his colleague Sebastian Vettel well. “I will be on standby should the team need me again and I am hoping that Sebastian makes a speedy return to racing.“