Vettel boosted by ‘best Friday’ in upgraded Aston Martin

Sebastian Vettel says he felt “more at home” in Aston Martin’s AMR21 off the back of an encouraging Friday at Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Vettel has yet to score a point for Aston Martin amid a series of setbacks since his move from Ferrari, and conceded after Sunday’s race in Portugal that the car lacked overall performance.

Vettel trialled Aston Martin’s updates for the first time on Friday, with the new parts having only been available for Lance Stroll in Portugal, on account of his superior position in the standings.

Vettel finished 11th in a tightly-contested second practice session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and expressed optimism over Aston Martin’s progress.

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“I think it’s fair to say it probably was our best Friday,” he said. “I was happier with the car. Obviously it’s different track conditions but I think I generally felt a lot more at home.

“It seems to improve, it’s very tight, it’s hard to say where we’re going to be tomorrow but I think we need to look overnight what else we can find and then hopefully we can squeeze a couple of extra tenths.”

On the upgrades Vettel confirmed they were “a step forward, so it’s good to tick that off, and now we need to improve the package we have.

“The midfield is very tight so everything we can find will work in our favour, it’s a long race as well – it’s tough on the tyres – so lots of stuff to look for tonight.”

Team-mate Stroll finished the day in 14th position.