Azerbaijan GP : Post-Friday Practice comments from Vettel and Stroll

Aston Martin Formula One Team coming to Baku City on the back of a best scoring weekend of 2021 season so far in Monaco GP. Sebastian Vettel clinched his first Aston Martin championship points after finishing in impressive P5. The German would like to keep his positive momentum going in another street Circuit in Azerbaijan.

Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend began with two eventful Friday practice sessions as Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team got to grips with Baku.

In the morning session Lance lead the way for Aston Martin, The Canadian managed to complete 23 laps, while team mate Vettel managed to squeeze one extra lap. Lance’s best effort of 1:45.234 was good enough for P13 and +2.050s down on session leading Red Bull.

Sebastian’s best effort of morning session 1:45.415 was good enough for P15 and +2.231s down Perez’s time.

In the Afternoon session Vettel managed to complete 22 laps while his teammate Lance managed one less lap. German’s fastest lap of 1:43.881 seconds is good enough for P15 on the final classification, while Lance managed to clock 1:43.812 to take P14.

The Aston Martin’s were down nearly 1.7 seconds from session leaders Red Bulls, the gap is a big concern. But the team will have new Mercedes power Units on the back of the car for power sensitive Baku City track.

Sebastian Vettel: 

“We covered plenty of laps and end the day feeling satisfied that we have done our homework. The track was in good shape from the start, but obviously improved quite a bit during the day.

“It is a tricky circuit at the best of times, but by the end of the sessions I was finding a nice rhythm. During my laps on the soft tyres, I did not maximise everything and I am sure it is the same for the others because there were a lot of yellow flags, especially this afternoon. So there is more to come.

“The long runs were a bit cleaner and I have a good feel for the car already. Let’s see where we can improve overnight.”

Lance Stroll:

 “It is great to be driving in Baku. It is a place that holds special memories for me and it is great fun to drive here. It is so high-speed; you are constantly close to the wall, and it is a challenge for the driver.

“You can gain a lot of lap time under braking because you arrive at high speeds, and getting the braking point right really helps bring a lap together.

“I think we made some good progress with the car today; we learned a lot about the set-up and I think we can make further gains with car balance. We will go away tonight, review it all, and try to make improvements for tomorrow.”