Sebastian Vettel: “All these steps are taking us in a good direction for the races to come”

Sebastian Vettel said scoring a point in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix was a ‘good effort’, with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team driver feeling it was a pretty straightforward race despite the difficult conditions.

Vettel started ninth on the grid but was one of the first to gamble for a switch to the intermediate Pirelli tyres.  He found himself in the battle behind Fernando Alonso in the final stint, and although he finished on the road in eleventh, he was promoted to tenth after Esteban Ocon was penalised with a five-second time penalty for a collision with Lewis Hamilton.

The four-time World Champion believes tenth was the best result possible in Monaco, but the biggest plus to come from the race was what was learned about the updates that the team first introduced in the Spanish Grand Prix seven days earlier.

“Today was a race in which anything could happen, but actually it was quite a clean and straightforward race for me,” commented Vettel.  “We managed to pick up a point, which was a good effort because it is always difficult to make progress at Monaco, especially with only one dry line.

“Given the way the race developed, I do not think we could have finished any higher. It was a real struggle on the Wet tyres in the early laps so that is why we went to the Intermediate as soon as we could.

“We learned more about the car, too, optimising the set-up with the new parts we introduced recently. All these steps are taking us in a good direction for the races to come.”

“I knew it would be a struggle to score points” – Lance Stroll

Team-mate Lance Stroll admitted it was always going to be a struggle to score points having qualified only eighteenth on Saturday, and it was made even harder when he was forced to pit for a precautionary stop after hitting the barriers at the top of the hill early on.

Despite finishing only fourteenth, the Canadian was content with his race performance at the Circuit de Monaco, with a move at Rascasse on Yuki Tsunoda particularly ‘pleasing’.

Like Vettel, Stroll felt Aston Martin can be happy with what they had learned about the car around Monaco, and he hopes they can improve on it further in the upcoming races in Azerbaijan and Canada.

“I knew it would be a struggle to score points when starting so far back and it was always going to be a tricky race in the wet weather, but there are positives to take,” said Stroll.  “We made the right call by switching to the Intermediate tyres early on because it was clearly the best compound.

“Overtaking is difficult at Monaco, so getting past [Yuki] Tsunoda at Rascasse was a pleasing move and showed that the car is becoming more competitive – especially considering the slower-speed corners here.

“On the whole, the race gave us plenty of opportunities to continue learning about the car’s recent developments. I am confident we will be able to develop the car for both the slower and faster circuits in the near future.”

Lance Stroll ended fourteenth in Monaco – Credit: Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team