Glock fears a ‘difficult’ situation for Vettel

Ex-F1 racer Timo Glock believes it will be a challenge for Sebastian Vettel to make anything of the struggling Aston Martin package.

The ambition is there from the team, which since its rebranding ahead of the 2021 season has been undergoing a major recruitment drive, with a new management team in place, while a new campus and wind tunnel are under construction.

Former McLaren Racing CEO Martin Whitmarsh is now serving in that role at Aston Martin, while BMW’s former motorsport boss Mike Krack replaced Otmar Szafnauer as team principal.

However, for a team that wants to be title contenders within the next five years, the on-track results have not been demonstrating the required progress towards this ambition.

Aerodynamic regulation changes hampered the team in 2021, resulting in a slump to P7 in the Constructors’ Championship, but the 2022 season and its overhauled regulations were seen as the opportunity to start fresh and improve up the order.

But, there was little sign of that happening in Bahrain, with both Aston Martins suffering Q1 elimination and failing to score a point.

Four-time World Champion Vettel did not compete in the season-opener due to returning a positive Covid test, but once he is back in the AMR22, Glock is fearful that his compatriot can not achieve much with it.

“The disappointment of the weekend was Aston Martin,” he wrote in his Sky Sport column after the Bahrain Grand Prix.

“It will be difficult for Sebastian Vettel to make something out of this package in the future. It needs a lot of work around the new team boss Mike Krack.”

It was another German racer who took Vettel’s place in Bahrain, that being Nico Hülkenberg.

While he was unable to make any progress in the race, he did outqualify