Sebastian Vettel says Aston Martin need to improve on their qualifying performance in order to rise up the table in the second half of 2022. Vettel finished tenth in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix after having qualified only 18th, while teammate Lance Stroll had also crossed the line tenth from 15th on the grid in the preceding French Grand Prix, and Vettel said the Silverstone outfit needed to focus on improving their one-lap pace. "I think there's still stuff that we need to improve," Vettel told media including RacingNews365.com. "I think our target has to be to have a better Saturday. That's what we need to work on because our Sundays are not so bad. "[During qualifying], I think we are ninth or tenth in terms of teams. On Sunday, we sometimes have reasonable pace to be in the midfield."
VSC put paid to Vettel challenging Ocon
Vettel emphasised his point about Aston Martin's solid race pace by referencing how close he came at the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix to Esteban Ocon, who had faded after having started fifth on the grid. Vettel added that he might have had a chance at challenging for Ocon's ninth position, but a late-race Virtual Safety Car period to clear Valtteri Bottas' stricken Alfa Romeo put paid to those ambitions. "At the second stop, I struggled a little bit with tyres. I think we got the balance a little bit wrong," said Vettel. "And then at the third stop we corrected it and it was a lot better. "I think I had a better shot at Esteban at the end, but obviously I just missed him by a little bit. The VSC obviously hurt us"
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