Vettel: Aiming for a clean weekend in Portimao

With the final woeful year at Ferrari long forgotten, Vettel's new lease on life - in Green - has hardly got off to a good start and he is in need of a solid result, sooner rather than later.

The weekend in the Algarve might be the right place to halt the slide; he said as much in the team preview: "I think Portimão is a good place to aim for a clean weekend – the circuit is a high-speed autodrome; very smooth and with plenty of gradient.

"It’s fun to drive, and I think it’ll be a good place to get a better handle on the limits of the AMR21. I know I’m yet to get the maximum from the car – but the fact that we understand that is another good reason to keep pushing," added the four-times F1 World Champion.

Last year Vettel qualified 15th for Ferrari at Portimao and finished tenth in the race. So far, two rounds into this season, he has not shown his top ten game yet and the jury is out on what is really troubling Vettel, as this is not a new thing. Does he still have that formidable A-Game in him?

The German's former team manager at Toro Rosso, Gerhard Berger has suggested he take a sabbatical; respected punters, F1 world champions included, are questioning how much longer Vettel will continue with his woeful ways - any lesser driver would long ago be out of F1, indeed it might've been the case had Aston Martin not come calling.

Meanwhile, as Vettel makes the transition to Mercedes power and his new team, Lance Stroll is the yardstick for how good the Aston Martin AMR21 really is this season. Clearly, right now it is not the weapon they had last year, namely the copycat-Mercedes in the pink of Racing Point. A race winner it was.

This is not the case with what they currently have at their disposal but Stroll, who finished seventh at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix two weeks ago, is upbeat: “We head to Portugal feeling positive. We’re making progress in unlocking the full potential of the AMR21.

"There’s an exciting battle within the midfield pack, and our aim is to compete at the front of it – another clean weekend, and the prospect of more points, will ensure we maintain our momentum," added the Canadian.

Team boss Otmar Szafnauer is allowing the team to shoulder some of the blame for Vettel's shortcomings: “For Seb, the philosophy of the AMR21 is completely different and that does take time to learn. I spoke to Checo [in Imola] and he’s gone to Red Bull, which has a different philosophy to us, and he said similar.

“It’s going to take seat time to be able to get on top of the fine margins needed for getting the most out of the car. The more seat time, the better. Seb was not in contention in Imola, through no fault of his own, but if you looked at his pace on the dry tyres, it was promising.

"I think that shows he’s starting to get on top of the car," added Szafnauer.