‘Fingers crossed’ there will be running

Sebastian Vettel has urged Aston Martin to “up our game” ahead of what is forecast to be a very wet qualifying at the Hungaroring as the last two wet sessions saw him exit in Q1.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms have been forecast for Saturday’s qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

According to weather.com, Saturday’s final practice is expected to take place on a wet track, 49% chance of rain and scattered thunderstorms.

And with the conditions worsening later in the afternoon, there is a 84% change of rain and thunderstorms.

It will, however, turn to a light rain at 5pm local time so if qualifying is delayed, there is a chance it will take place an hour later than scheduled.

But having failed to make it out of Q1 the last two wet qualifying sessions, Canada and Britain, Vettel says Aston Martin have their work cut out for the them.

“We’ll see how wet it is going to be,” he said as per Motorsport.com.

“Obviously it would be a shame if it was to be that wet that we can’t run, and people on the grandstand are having a not so nice day! So fingers crossed.

“But yeah, if it’s wet, then I think we really need to up our game compared to the last two times we had wet qualifying sessions.

“So a bit of homework and preparation to do, but for now, I think it’s been a good start to the weekend.”

Pressed as to what exactly Aston Martin with their brand new controversial rear wing can do to make the car better in the wet, Vettel replied: “I mean the classical rain set-up doesn’t exist anymore, those have been gone for a long, long, long time. I probably witnessed just the end of it when I joined a long time ago!

“Obviously we’ll try to make the car faster. I think we can, knowing that Sunday’s dry, most likely it’s probably the main exercise, but also preparing for Saturday as much as we can, knowing that there is rain coming.”

With a good qualifying showing, the four-time World Champion is hoping to score points in the first race since announcing his retirement.

“Points. Just missed them last week, and I think that’s the target from now on, to score points every race,” he said.

This season will be Vettel’s final year in Formula 1, the 35-year-old announcing on Thursday that he wants to spend more time with his family.