Aston Martin says it has no worries that it can adapt its AMR21 to Sebastian Vettel, believing he has a less extreme driving style than predecessor Sergio Perez.
Vettel has lacked consistency in recent seasons, particularly in 2020, prompting suggestions that he is more susceptible to struggling with an unstable rear end.
But Aston Martin’s technical chief Andrew Green has suggested it will not be a huge challenge to understand and adapt to Vettel’s approach.
“Yes he does have his own personal driving style, but that’s no different to the driving style we’ve seen from other drivers,” said Green.
“I’d say [it is] not as extreme as the driver he’s replacing, who had a very extreme driving style that was very difficult to get right at all tracks. It shone on certain tracks and not on others.
“I think Seb’s style is a lot less extreme, and we have the tools and the capability to tune the car to suit him for sure.
“We’ve already started working on that, we’ve been working on that on the simulator for the last month and he seems very happy with the direction that we’ve taken, so no problems there.”
Vettel also feels that the narrative has been blown out of proportion.
“I think the whole rear end thing has got a little bit out of hand,” he said. “I mean, if you look at the cars that I had when I was at Red Bull or beginning of Ferrari I think there’s always been times when the rear has been nervous and that’s OK, so I don’t think I’m more vulnerable than others in this regard.
“If anything I don’t like when the car is really just understeering, because at least with oversteer you can do plenty of things. The understeer as well there are driver techniques but your hands are a bit more tied and you’re a bit more limited.
“So actually I prefer when the car is a bit loose at the rear, it helps it to rotate and so on – although obviously if it gets too much then you lose too much time and then nobody likes that because it’s slow.”
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