Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel says he is happier now than he was during his six seasons at previous team Ferrari.
The four-time world champion joined the Scuderia in 2015 in search of his fifth F1 title success, and won 14 races with the team.
However, a championship with the Scuderia never materialised and his Ferrari career went downhill towards the end, prompting a move to Aston Martin.
Vettel achieved a podium finish in Azerbaijan with the returning constructor this year and the German maintains that he is not looking back.
“Well, my departure from Ferrari was maybe a bit strange. In that respect, I’m happier now than before. But I would never want to miss my time at Ferrari,” Vettel said.
“Even if my planned big successes failed to materialise there. We wanted to become World Champions.”
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Ferrari have not won a race since the Singapore Grand Prix of 2019 – won by Vettel himself – and the German simply put this down to Mercedes’ and Red Bull’s superiority.
“That is clearly due to the lead of Mercedes and Red Bull,” he said. “Unfortunately, they continue to be so blatantly superior. But at some point Ferrari will win again and become World Champion.”
Aston Martin went backwards in the Constructors’ Standings from their predecessors Racing Point, and sizzled out in seventh in the constructors’ battle.
Asked about Aston Martin’s chances of improvement with the new regulations in 2022, Vettel knows there is plenty of work to do.
“That is the big question. As I said before, a new set of regulations gives everyone hope. We now have to wait a year and see if everything develops positively – in all regions of the current standings.
“In short: whether everyone will really move closer together and whether there will be more overtaking.”
Continuing, Vettel said he reckons that the slightly modified regulations for 2021 made a big difference to the Silverstone-based team’s performance.
“We had a difficult year in general with the new regulations and the modified, indeed cut, underbody.
“We didn’t have as steep an angle of attack at the rear as Red Bull, for example. Mercedes also suffered from the underbody. In 2020, they were still 1.5 seconds ahead.
“Our car is not that efficient. That is a weak point. Unfortunately, we had too much drag too often.”
Vettel finished 12th in the Drivers’ Standings in 2021, scoring points on seven occasions and winning Formula 1’s inaugural overtaking award.
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