Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team difficult start to the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship continued in the Portuguese Grand Prix as both drivers failed to score any points at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve.
Confidence looked high in the team after Sebastian Vettel managed to progress into Q3 of qualifying for the first time since joining the British-based team.
However, the German driver failed to replicate that into Sunday as he fell out of the top ten and never really threaten back, finishing thirteenth and still hasn’t scored a single point in the opening three races.
His team-mate Lance Stroll had to make up ground after a disappointing qualifying session, starting seventeenth on the grid and crawled back up a few places, but it was just too far for the Canadian to rescue points for the team, eventually finishing one-place behind Vettel.
Aston Martin CEO & Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer revealed that the two drivers swapped places in the final stages to see if Stroll could salvage a point for the team.
“Lance drove a good race from a less than optimal grid slot, never put a foot wrong, and ended up finishing 14th in a race that contained very little attrition.
“Towards the end, he was running just behind Sebastian, but on fresher tyres, so we asked Sebastian to let Lance past so that he could have a go at trying to catch and pass the cars ahead, to give us an outside chance of nicking a point. In the end, Lance was not able to do that so, very sportingly, he gave the place back to Sebastian on the final lap.”
Obviously, Szafnauer was disappointed not to pick up any points but sees a Spanish Grand Prix as the perfect opportunity to make amends.
Obviously, we are disappointed not to have been able to score any points today, but the good news is that the Spanish Grand Prix is next weekend, so we have a chance to correct that in just a few days’ time.”
