Szafnauer Happy with Vettel’s ‘Solid Drive’ and ‘Strong Pace’ in Mexico City

Otmar Szafnauer was delighted that Sebastian Vettel was able to bring home six points for the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, although he was less than happy that Lance Stroll was unable to improve on fourteenth.

Vettel started inside the top ten and was able to gain places on the opening lap to run eighth as he capitalised on the incident between Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo, and then he used a good strategy to get ahead of Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN’s Antonio Giovinazzi to finish seventh.

“Sebastian delivered a solid drive, with strong race pace, which allowed him to control his afternoon and score six points thanks to a fine seventh place,” said Szafnauer.

Stroll on the other hand was always on the back foot after starting twentieth and last following a grid penalty for an engine change and a crash in the early part of Saturday’s Qualifying session. 

He was stuck in traffic for much of the afternoon but was able to pull off a super move on Williams Racing’s George Russell late in the day to claim fourteenth.

“Starting at the back of the grid as a result of grid penalties triggered by power unit component changes, Lance drove a good race to fourteenth, the highlight of which was a beautiful overtake of [George] Russell’s Williams around the outside of Turn One,” said the American.

Szafnauer, the Team Principal and CEO of Aston Martin, says the team are happy to be leaving Mexico with points, and they are aiming for more this coming weekend as their attention switches to the São Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil.

“From here we go straight to Interlagos, a superb racetrack that will be great to race on again after missing it last year owing to the pandemic.”