Aston Martin have praised Sebastian Vettel for helping the team, both on and off the track. Vettel joined the outfit in 2021 after being replaced at Ferrari by Carlos Sainz, and clinched the British squad's only podium result at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Another podium followed in Hungary, but Vettel was later disqualified due to the FIA being unable to take enough of a fuel sample from his car at the end of the race. The German will again race for the team in 2022 alongside Lance Stroll, and Andrew Green, Chief Technical Officer at Aston Martin, thinks that Vettel's experience will prove useful, given the new technical regulations coming into effect in the sport. "I think we have a really strong driver line-up," Green told media including RacingNews365.com . "I'm really pleased that we retain the driver line-up across such a massive rule change, because I think that stability is really important. "I think with Seb, we have a super, super talented, super experienced driver, who's helped us in many ways, on and off the track. I think his experience is going to be really useful."
Stroll "gaining wisdom and experience"
Green has also acknowledged Stroll's role in the squad, with the Canadian now entering into his sixth season in F1. "On the other hand, we have Lance," Green said. "He's 100 Grands Prix in now. He's super talented, he's super fast. He's gaining wisdom and experience with every race." Given the dramatic changes to the car in 2022, Green thinks it is important that both drivers continue to work well with the engineers. "Both of them work really well with the engineering department, and that's key," he added. "They work really well together, but they also work really well with the engineering department. "And I think we're going to have to pull together in that area, because there's so much to learn with the new car. Every aspect of it is new - the new aerodynamics, [and] especially the tyres. "The tyres are going to be a massive unknown to everybody."
"A good driver pairing is going to help"
With this uncertainty in mind, Green believes that having a strong driver line-up is important. "No one really knows what's going to happen with the tyres when we start running them," Green explained. "As much as we've done some testing pre-season in Abu Dhabi, or with all the in-season testing last year, nobody has run these tyres with a ground effect car. "That's going to be a real challenge, and I think that's where a good driver pairing is going to really help." Aston Martin unveiled their 2022 car , the AMR22, at a launch event last week, and the team then carried out a shakedown at Silverstone the following day.
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