Sebastian Vettel is set to make his Formula 1 season return at the Australian Grand Prix after missing the opening two rounds of the 2022 season. So far, the four-time champion’s 2022 season has been halted, with a positive covid test only days before the Bahrain Grand Prix at the opening of the season.
He did miss the season opener, though, as he returned home to recover and isolate. His Aston Martin team believed he’d be back on track for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The team waited as long as possible to make the decision. However, it was reported on the Friday of the race weekend that Vettel had still not returned a negative test in time and therefore missed the second Grand Prix of the year.
The team’s new car, the AMR22, was driven by Nico Hulkenberg on both occasions. Aston Martin’s reserve driver was given a second chance at F1 following his departure from Renault in 2020.
On March 31st Aston Martin announced on Twitter that Vettel is fit to race and will line up with Lance Stroll in Melbourne to kick off his 2022 F1 season at the Australian Grand Prix. However, after limited pre-season testing, Vettel will have a lot to learn about the 2022 car, mainly because most of his opponents on the grid have already completed two races.
Still, the German driver has fond memories of the Victoria circuit. He has two consecutive wins there with Ferrari in 2017 and 2018, and his first win at the Australian GP came racing with Red Bull in 2011.
Vettel signed with Aston Martin ahead of the 2021 season after six years with the Scuderia, but had a poor season, finishing 12th with just 43 points. He only had one podium – coming in second in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He went to secure second place for the second time in Hungary, but he was disqualified after the race when the FIA could not extract a sufficient fuel sample from his car after the Grand Prix.
As a consolation, he won the overtake award over Fernando Alonso and secured his unique prize of one million jellybeans. And, having exercised his option for a one-year contract extension, both he and Stroll were expected to gain from the new technical regulations set to take effect in 2022.
Besides kicking off his F1 season, the Australian GP will provide the German with the opportunity to turn around Aston Martin’s on-track fortunes following a tough start to the year. Along with Williams, Aston Martin is one of the two teams yet to score any points this season.
However, Aston Martin isn’t the only team that has struggled to adapt to the changes. McLaren and, most notably, Mercedes have fallen well behind Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of performance.
The series last visited Albert Park in March 2020. However, the race weekend was cancelled just before the start of FP1 due to a global pandemic, meaning no competitive action has taken place there since 2019.