Lewis Hamilton sends Sebastian Vettel message as German prepares for F1 return

Lewis Hamilton has taken to Instagram to share a welcome back message with Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel with the German shaking off covid.

Vettel’s 2022 season has been one of frustration and very little driving action so far, with the four-time world champion contracting covid just before the first race weekend of the year in Bahrain.

Indeed, he missed the Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit and then did not return a negative test in time for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last weekend, so is yet to race in F1’s new era, despite obviously testing the new Aston Martin earlier on in the year.

Nico Hulkenberg deputised for him in both races, then, and did a solid job at the wheel of the AMR22 but it is time for the status quo to return in the Aston garage, and Lewis Hamilton appears pleased to be welcoming Seb back.

Hamilton took to Instagram yesterday to share his message on the social media website, saying ‘welcome back’ to Seb and that covid is no joke:

Vettel’s positive test is a reminder that the virus is still lurking around, with Daniel Ricciardo also picking it up during testing, which forced him to miss the final three days of the winter programme in Bahrain.

There is every chance that another driver will get it in the coming weeks, too, and F1 will obviously be monitoring things carefully as it would be terrible for a driver to miss a race and potentially impact their chances of winning a race or even a championship because of it.

2022 is a year where normality is gradually returning, but the last couple of years remain still fairly clear in the wing-mirrors for now.