Sebastian Vettel and Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll have struggled in the first half of the season, with the team’s 2022 challenger proving to be one of the least competitive cars on the grid.
Specifically, the AMR22 appears to be the second-slowest car, only faster than the Williams.
As a result, the Silverstone-based team – which finished seventh in last year’s championship – currently find themselves P9 in the Constructors’ Standings on 18 points.
They are 15 points clear of tenth-placed Williams, and nine points adrift of Scuderia AlphaTauri, who sit P8 in the table.
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Vettel, meanwhile, is 14th in the Drivers’ Standings on 15 points, while Stroll is down in 19th, having scored just three points so far this season.
However, the remainder of 2022 isn’t necessarily a lost cause, as Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has revealed that the team are planning to bring further upgrades later in the year in a bid to improve their fortunes.
The team brought a significant upgrade to the British Grand Prix, but it failed to improve their competitiveness, based on how the last few races have gone.
Speaking after the recent Austrian Grand Prix, Krack said that they will continue to develop the AMR22, while keeping one eye on the budget cap.
“Yes, we want to continue developing this car,” said Krack.
“Obviously we need to respect the financial implications that we are having – but we have a plan in place that we made a while ago that we are trying to follow as much as we can.
“Obviously you always have to adjust it depending on what is your wind tunnel result, what is your latest race result, but we’re very confident that we can improve it further, and we will do so race by race.”
Continuing, he admitted that not halting development was a difficult decision to make, but said they are not satisfied with the current “level of performance” of their 2022 challenger.
“We need to balance now what are we going to do with the current car, and how much of a compromise do we take in continuing with the current car and going into the next one?
“It’s a tough call, but… we’re only halfway into the season, we must not forget. We do not want to continue this year on this level of performance,” he added.
Sebastian Vettel’s future
In the same interview, Krack addressed Vettel’s future at Aston Martin beyond the end of this season.
The German is yet to ink a contract for 2023, but the Aston Martin team principal is eager to keep him at the team.
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“We are in talks. Sebastian is very positive, very constructive, so from that point of view I really hope we can continue,” he said.
“Also, maybe the investment he has made now over two years, he should also maybe be in a position to get something from it and not hand it to someone else later. But we are confident we can make this a success with the talks we are having.”