Imola a ‘flash in the pan’ for Aston Martin

Michelle Foster
Sebastian Vettel gives a thumbs up. Imola April 2022

Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel gives a thumbs up. Imola April 2022

Ralf Schumacher has warned Aston Martin that their Imola double points-haul was likely a “flash in the pain” and he doesn’t expect them to be “that good” in Miami.

Aston Martin went into round four of the championship as the only team yet to get off the mark.

They walked away from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with five points on the board, both Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll in the points.

The duo qualified ninth and 15th for the sprint race, Vettel securing Aston Martin’s first Q3 appearance of the season only to lose places in the dry in the sprint qualifying race.

But with the grand prix start on a wet track, the German was soon working his way towards the points, finishing P8 on day with Stroll 10th.

The team, though, shouldn’t expect a repeat come Miami with Schumacher calling their Imola result a “flash in the pan”.

“I assume that Imola was a flash in the pan,” the former driver wrote in his latest Sky Germany column.

“We’re going to Miami in two weeks. I don’t expect the Aston Martin to be that good.

“But it’s a new track, the temperatures will be higher. All teams have their problems. I’m curious how it will be.”

But while the German is not expecting much from Aston Martin, he was still impressed with their performance at Imola.

The race was Vettel’s second of the season, the four-time World Champion having missed the first two races with Covid, with Schumacher saying it showed Vettel’s strength in the wet.

Sebastian Vettel did a much better job,” he said. “In Imola it became clear once again that he is simply a good rain driver.

“What is striking is the Aston Martin is better in the rain than in the dry.

“I don’t think Vettel would have finished in the top ten in the dry. You saw that in the sprint. Things didn’t go as well then as later in the race. In the end, however, there is a strong eighth place.”

“One mustn’t forget that his team-mate Lance Stroll was also able to impress with tenth place,” Schumacher continued.

“You can see that the car can do something. In any case, that was a ray of hope.

 

“I think if the two get used to the car even more, the results will be more stable and better in the future.”

Aston Martin are up to ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, now four points ahead of Williams.

 

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