Vettel: Happier at Aston Martin than at Ferrari

Vettel finished his first season in Green 12th on the Drivers' Standings, not a spectacular result, but the four-time F1 World Champion has delivered some solid drives in Monaco where he finished fifth, and Baku where he scored Aston Martin first ever podium with a second-place finish.

He could have won in Hungary had his team not botched his pit stop in an attempt to undercut eventual race winner Esteban Ocon, and finished second, which was later stripped from him, after the FIA couldn't extract a sufficient fuel sample from his car.

Now with the season over, the German spoke to Blick on several subjects, with the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi debacle, where Max Verstappen win the 2021 Title from Lewis Hamilton, being at the forefront of the topics.

"The whole thing left quite a strange impression," Vettel said of what went down on the final laps of the race. "The field behind the safety car should have been sorted much earlier.

"I made the suggestion on the radio after the first lap," he revealed.

"I had only seen the Dutch fans jump up on the last lap," Vettel went on. "That's when I knew: Max is in front. And Lewis had no chance with his tires.

"Well, both would have deserved the title," he insisted. "It's a shame for Hamilton, because he had a really strong second half of the season.

"Now I just congratulate both drivers," Vettel said.

Aston Martin finished 2020 third in the Constructors' Standings, under their Racing Point guise, with their "Mercedes-inspired" RP20 being dubbed as the Pink Mercedes.

With the floor regulation changes for 2021 hurting low-rake cars, namely Mercedes and Aston Martin, the latter couldn't recover the lost performance as the former managed to.

"We generally had a difficult year with the new regulations and the modified, indeed cut, underbody," the quadruple World Champion said. "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."

With his car's inconsistent track-related-performance pointed out, the 34-year-old said: "That's right.

"Our car is not that efficient. That's a weak point. Unfortunately, we had too much drag too often."

Vettel was hesitant to set targets for 2022, preferring to go down the safe route insisting: "Of course, you can't give any figures or forecasts yet.

"I can't say now that we want to be the fastest team and become world champion. But if you talk to all the teams, most of them hope and believe that they will be right at the front.

"That doesn't work out. We also have to keep our feet on the ground and remain realistic," the 53-time winner cautioned.

Asked if Aston Martin would like another seventh-place Constructors' finish, the German quipped: "Of course not, but some team will end up there."

Of his relationship with his teammate Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence Stroll, Vettel said: "We have a professional relationship.

"And the team works like that too, has been bringing in a lot of staff for months for the new start.

"There's a great atmosphere of optimism. I like that, and I also enjoy continuing.

"New things have always motivated me," the Aston Martin driver said.

Vettel's acrimonious split with Ferrari is well documented, the German showed the door after six years at Maranello that, despite yielding 14 wins, didn't bring back the F1 Title's trophy to the Scuderia's coffers.

His final season in Red was awkward to say the least, Vettel saying: "Well, my departure from Ferrari was perhaps a bit strange.

"In that respect, I'm happier now than I was before.

"But I would never want to miss my time at Ferrari. Even if my planned big successes didn't happen there. After all, we wanted to become world champions.

Vettel won the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix for Ferrari, the team's last win to date, the former Ferrari and Red Bull ace explaining why: "This is clearly due to the lead of Mercedes and Red Bull.

"Unfortunately, they continue to be so blatantly superior.

"But at some point, Ferrari will also win again and become world champion," he mused.

Ferrari have been banking on the 2022 aero and tyre regulations being their chance to re-enter the winners' circle, with the FIA and F1 hoping those regulations would bunch up the field, maybe shuffle the pecking order, and allow for closer racing and more overtaking.

However, the big question remains: Will the highly anticipated rules work?

"That's the big question," Vettel believes. "As I said, a new set of regulations gives everyone hope.

"We now have to wait a year and see whether everything develops positively - in all regions of the current standings.

"In short, we'll have to see whether everyone really moves closer together and whether more overtaking takes place," he summed up.

Vettel was the F1 driver to make the most overtakes this season, 132 to be precise, thus winning the inaugural Crypto.com overtake award, something the German is not so proud of.

He joked with Blick, saying: "Well, if you have to start at the back of the field most of the time, you have a better chance of winning this overtaking title.

"I would have preferred to have scored more championship points (43; editor's note) and, above all, not to have lost my second place in Budapest.

"I'm told that 0.3 liters of fuel were lost in the tank," Vettel said reflecting on losing what could have been his second podium for Aston Martin.

Vettel first season with Aston Martin showed that he still has some kick in him, and as he enters his 16th full-time season in F1 next year, the youngest ever F1 Champion would be hoping that his team - going through an ambitious re-build under the watch of Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll - will provide him with a car good enough to fight, if not for wins, but closer to the front of the grid.