Sebastian Vettel finally made his return to action, after missing the opening two rounds due to testing positive for COVID-19. Unfortunately, his return was marked in disappointment, as he ended Free Practice One with his AMR22 parked at the side of the track. The German suffered a power unit issue which saw him miss all of Free Practice Two and needing a new power unit.
Free Practice One gave Vettel an opportunity to get used to his car properly for the first-time this season, at the new look Albert Park Circuit. He started the session well recording eighteen laps, with his best time of a 1:21.661 putting him in thirteenth position.
However, Vettel’s first practice was cut short as he stopped his car by the side of the track due to a power unit issue. Comically, Vettel was then seen scooting back round to the paddock on a Moped, waving to the Australian fans in the process. Vettel was unable to take part in the rest of the day’s running with a new power unit having to be installed ahead of Saturday.
Vettel reflected on his difficult opening day but remains positive on the cars performance as he now looks ahead to qualifying.
“It was a shame to have to finish FP1 earlier than we would have liked and then not be able to take part in FP2 because today was an important day for me in terms of getting back up to speed with the car and learning a new layout.
“The positives are that I felt I was able to get comfortable quite quickly and that we had a good balance in the car, too. It is a shame, however, not to have completed more laps, but it was a power unit issue and that meant we had to replace it. The car will be fine for tomorrow and we will continue to work hard and make progress.”
“It has been really fun to take on the challenge of a revised Albert Park Circuit.” – Lance Stroll
Lance Stroll had a more productive day for Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team than his team-mate, as he completed a total of fifty-two laps across both sessions at Albert Park.
Stroll recorded twenty-four laps in Free Practice One with his best lap of a 1:21.869, leaving him in sixteenth position with room for improvement going into the Second Practice session of the day.
Free Practice Two did see an improvement from the Canadian, who recorded twenty-eight laps with his best lap being over seven tenths of a second quicker than he managed in the morning. Stroll set a 1:20.611, leaving him in fourteenth position as the opening day drew to a close.
Stroll is feeling confident looking ahead to the rest of the weekend, after enjoying a positive start to proceedings Down Under.
“I think we have a made a good start to our weekend and the car is in a decent starting place, although we always want to find and extract more pace from it. We will work hard tonight to see if we can find more gains. It has been really fun to take on the challenge of a revised Albert Park Circuit. It is much faster and more exciting, and the four DRS zones should help cars get closer and improve overtaking, so let us see what the rest of the weekend has in store for us.”
Lance Stroll – Credit: Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team