At the end of an uninspiring test for Aston Martin, Sebastian Vettel admits to being "100 laps short" of where he had hoped to be over the three days.

The re-brand and general brouhaha out of the way, once the serious business of testing got underway, much like its good friend Mercedes, Aston Martin was found wanting.

A loss of boost pressure brought Sebastian Vettel's final morning to an early close, while on Friday he lost track time due to an unspecified issue which over-spilled into teammate Lance Stroll's session.

A gearbox issue on Saturday meant the four-time world champion only completed 10 laps and failed to post a significant time... then came Sunday.

"Obviously I would have liked to just get more mileage, that's the main thing," said the German as testing came to a close. "Today was very busy and I tried to make use of the track time which I felt I did and felt was good for me. I learned a lot of things, so now it's about remembering these things and going forward.

"This is really the key," he continued. "I'm just short of mileage, we have a lot of tyre sets we didn't use just because we didn't run.

"Overall it's probably 100 laps I'm short, and something similar for Lance, we didn't both get what we wanted.

"But it is not a big deal," he insisted, "it is what it is and we've got to move on."

The mileage stats reveal that with 117, Vettel completed the least laps of the 20 (race) drivers on duty, while teammate Stroll completed 197, more than a race distance more.

Indeed, with 314 laps to its credit, only Mercedes (304) completed less mileage than the Silverstone-based outfit.

Nonetheless, Vettel insists that the team's fairly lacklustre start to the season is no reason to panic, though over the years it has been a regular trait of the team to play catch-up.

"I'm not too preoccupied," said Vettel, "maybe it is the age, maybe the experience. Probably ten years ago I would slightly panic, but then again if I were to panic now would it help? Probably not.

"Just trying to do our thing and use the time now we have and still got some running, for me it was super useful, the laps today, so it could be worse... it could be better... but it could be worse.

"I think it is about remaining calm, doing one thing at a time and moving forward when it's time to."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Egalitarian, 18/03/2021 2:09

"Hi kenji, - I'm in Canberra. I love the drive through Tuena to Bathurst though and have enjoyed laps of the circuit too. VIP days are awesome.
OK Chris (and everyone else), we'll stop the PMs there.
Cheers"

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2. Posted by kenji, 17/03/2021 10:12

"@ Egalitarian....Are you close to Bathurst? Many years ago I owned a parcel of 70 acres on the ridgeline begtween Bathurst and Hill End near the Turon River. We spent a great deal of time there and would use it for camping out during early Bathurst 500 days. later my Company was a sponsor of the Bathurst races which meant VIP days on end. Great fun. met Alan Jones, Brock et al during these times. F1 cars on the track would be mighty...but it'll never happen."

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3. Posted by Egalitarian, 16/03/2021 21:48

"Hi C5 - viva la difference. All good. You take different things from F1 than I do. I have been around a long time (like our editor) and the more recent changes make me miss the good looking, raw and somewhat animalistic cars of yesteryear. For me, the longer pre-season testing was all part of building the tension of the coming season.
F1 yank. Cheers. Bathurst has excellent elevation changes (although F1 cars would likely bottom out at the Dipper) and it was suggested out of pure selfishness given where I live."

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4. Posted by F1 Yank, 16/03/2021 16:38

"C5 - I enjoyed your post especially how "to the point" it was. I would like to hear about what you actually disagreed with and why? My take from Egalitarian was: (and I am not defending this at all. It is just my perspective.) You miss the F1 days of testing/development and clean tracks. (I can agree with this.) Limited testing means the first few races are basically development than racing. (I completely agree especially when it comes to the practice sessions. The teams are pulling double duty, track data and car development. You can only process so much at one time.) No comment in regards to our illustrious editor and there seems to be an underlying interlude of reference but yes the press can be poorly informed or they choose to pass on poor information, one or the other, this is especially true when it comes to politics. I will conclude Egalitarian's post with yes, all of us want the pandemic to be well behind us with the sun on Barcelona, not sure about Bathurst track though. Looks like nice elevation changes. "

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5. Posted by C5, 15/03/2021 22:25

"@Egalitarian I realize this is not the most constructive post ever, but I disagree with pretty much everything you said and I couldn't just let it stand without at least some kind of response. So there, I said it. :-)"

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6. Posted by Egalitarian, 15/03/2021 22:02

"I miss the days when teams were able to test and develop their cars before the start of the season. And on tracks that had a clean surface. This limited testing can mean that the first few races are reduced to development rather than racing. The old days of 9 days of testing also provided the punters with more data on which to make their predictions and enter into discussions. Maybe our editor wouldn't be too pleased with that though, given some of the nonsense that comes from the ill-informed press.
Perhaps when this pandemic is well behind us, we can return to clean and sunny tracks like Barcelona and start to test at Bathurst. Now there's a place you'll want to see an F1 car ."

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7. Posted by F1 Yank, 15/03/2021 18:51

"Yeah, I always cringe when teams have running issues during their test days. The sessions are limited so the teams need to be running at 100% in order to maximize data collection. When they don't, it just means they will be that far behind when they arrive at the first race. A conveyor belt ripple effect. Granted I expected more since of all the hype from RP's performance last year. I always say if you can bag something early, do so. We shall see what develops."

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8. Posted by kenji, 15/03/2021 10:18

"Whilst it's early days I think a lot of people got carried away with the whole Aston Martin revival strengthened by the attractive livery and launch hoo har. Couple that with a renewed Vettel and it all seemed to be too good to be true. So, not an auspicious start but in the grand scheme of things not so important as it's a long season and they will improve as the year progresses. I do hope that they do well as F1 needs some good stories...."

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"I'm 100 laps short," says Vettel

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