Vettel ‘wholly responsible’ for Ocon incident
SEBASTIAN Vettel’s sorry Aston Martin debut concluded with him being punished by the stewards for a second time in as many days at the Bahrain Grand Prix, writes Philip Duncan.
After the quadruple world titlewinner was thrown to the back of the grid – penalised for failing to slow under yellow flags in qualifying – he then crashed into Alpine’s Esteban Ocon during the race.
Vettel was hit with a ten-second penalty for the incident and two points on his licence, taking his tally for the weekend to five. He will be banned for one race if he accrues seven more over the next 12 months.
The 33-year-old signed for the rebranded Aston Martin team in the hope of renewed glory following a dismal end to his time with Ferrari, but he has appeared uncomfortable in his new machine. Even before his grid penalty, he was due to line up for Sunday’s race 18th of the 20 cars.
Vettel took the chequered flag last but one, with only the son of his boyhood hero Michael Schumacher, debutant Mick, behind him on track.
Explaining his crash with Ocon, a deflated Vettel said: “I was sure he was leaving me space on the left, but then he crossed back and as soon as I was behind him I locked up and couldn’t avoid hitting him. On the start, we positioned ourselves well but then I couldn’t make progress. We tried the one-stop strategy because we had to do something. I was struggling with the tyres, so we couldn’t have scored points anyway.”
Ocon revealed Vettel apologised for the crash, with stewards deeming the German “wholly responsible”.
Aston Martin headed back into the sport for the first time in 61 years amid much fanfare. The British team called on A-List stars, Daniel Craig, Tom Brady and Gemma Arterton for their launch earlier this month. Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll wants them to be world champions.
The owner’s son, Lance, also failed to sparkle, starting and finishing tenth.