Sebastian Vettel was not a happy man after leaving the Canadian qualifiers early on Saturday, given how fast he and his Aston Martin looked during free practice.
Vettel was just half a tenth behind Fernando Alonso’s time to melt the table in a wet last workout, with Aston Martin also showing a reversal in the pace of dry running on Friday.
But their promise ultimately did not live up to expectations in the qualifiers, as Vettel and his teammate Lance Stroll were knocked out in Q1 – much to the surprise and annoyance of the four-time world champion.
After much swearing on the team’s radio, Vettel said, “I can’t believe it. It can not be. What was that? It was so different this morning. So different.
“I did not have a grip. It felt like the back left was broken, man.
But after taking the time to calm down inevitably after this bad news, he admitted that the car’s balance did not feel right for him – and will study it with his team.
🚨 OUTPUT THROUGH Q1 🚨
16. Pierre Gasley17. Sebastian Vettel 18. Lance Stroll19. Nicola Latifi20. Yuki Tsunoda
The pace of Aston’s training has disappeared quite dramatically there! #CanadianGP 🇨🇦 # F1 pic.twitter.com/aDtA3pp2Oc
– PlanetF1 (@ Planet_F1) June 18, 2022
“Yes, very disappointing because we had so much pace and we have no idea where it went,” Vettel said on television after qualifying. “She is probably still somewhere. But yes, it was a surprise.
“I had very low traction and, I mean, the car was feeling, it was no surprise that we were so slow. But obviously we haven’t changed anything since this morning. Not much and it was shocking.
“So, it’s very difficult to fight. Very slippery, very bad rear. So we have to look, something is clearly not working.
But despite his low starting position, the track Gilles Villeneuve offers good opportunities to overtake and, after showing a promise of dry running and a better weather forecast expected for Sunday, he feels ready to climb across the field – although starting from close.
“[I’m] always optimistic, “he said.” But yes, let’s see. I mean, we had a good pace yesterday. And if we find out what’s wrong, then I think we need to get back to normal.
“So that puts us on our hind legs because we start backwards. But hey, this isn’t the first race we’re going back to. “
Aston team director Martin Mike Krak agreed with Vettel about how difficult the car is to drive, adding: “In the first quarter, both Lance and Sebastian struggled for traction. And despite changing new tires, none of the pilots felt they had the car under them to make a quick lap when the track was fastest at the end of the session.
“We didn’t do a good enough job this afternoon. We will go and see exactly what happened, but we know that this is a chain in which overtaking is possible, we have two highly motivated drivers and a good car for tomorrow’s forecast dry conditions. “
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