From 13th on the grid he jumped up to ninth on the first lap, later gaining a spot when Fernando Alonso retired.
He moved up another place when he jumped Kevin Magnussen in the pits after being among the first to switch to slicks, leaving him in seventh for much of the race. He gained another position when Charles Leclerc spun, but lost out to Yuki Tsunoda and the recovering Leclerc.
The German’s eighth place and 10th for teammate Lance Stroll represent Aston Martin’s first points of its troubled 2022 season.
“It’s like a victory,” he said. “We have to be honest, we are not the fastest at the minute. I think we are pretty much at the other side of the field. But today we did really well, the weekend helped us with the conditions, but we managed to capitalise.
“I think we did a great job on calling for the dry tyres, and everybody else then I think copied what we did. So I was happy to go even a lap before or two. So yeah, it was really, really good.
“And obviously, no chance to hold Charles off in the end, he’s like four seconds faster, three seconds faster. If you told us that we are fighting a Ferrari with four laps to go before the race I would have would have taken it.
“I mean, it’s still eighth position. So it’s not as enjoyable as winning. But to be honest, you know, I’ve driven a lot of races where I finished on the podium and I’ve done a worse race. So I’m very happy.”
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR22, in the pits
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Vettel stressed the result was achieved with a car that is still tricky to drive and lacking in pace.
“We didn’t put anything on for performance,” he said. “We suffered an issue with the steering feeling. And we were able to improve it slightly for this race. But it’s still a handful.
“I think if you watch the onboard our car is very difficult to drive and even down the straights, you need to be focused. So yeah, it’s what it is. But therefore it’s very tasty, very sweet…
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