Vettel adamant Bahrain F1 blunder won’t happen again

Sebastian Vettel has vowed to learn from his latest high-profile mistake after crashing into the back of Esteban Ocon at the F1 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

While battling well down the field in Bahrain, Vettel locked up and hit the back of the Alpine driver into Turn 1.

The four-time world champion was handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident, capping off a torrid first weekend for Aston Martin.

Reflecting on his error in Bahrain, Vettel was adamant that a similar mistake would not happen again.

“I think the key is that I understand what happened and I think I did,” Vettel said. “You try to learn from it. I am quite sure it won’t happen again but as you said, obviously, going forwards, there are always things you can learn from your mistakes and what mistakes other people are making.

“But for sure, the target is to have clean races and not to have anything interrupting that. I think that’s the expectation I set of myself and as you said, as well, the level I want to be at doesn’t excuse things like this happening.”

Aston Martin struggled for pace in Bahrain as Lance Stroll scored the team’s solitary point with P10.

Vettel believes the response from the team to its struggles has been “positive”.

“As you mentioned, it wasn’t a great weekend for us,” Vettel said. “Both in terms of all the things that happened, then in terms of result. I think we went through everything that happened and the response has been quite positive.

“The spirit is great in the team. I am willing to put everything in that I can to try and understand, try and help, and try and have a better race this weekend. I think we are well prepared and we will see what we get. I think we learned a little bit about our car, to understand a bit more where it wants to be and try to take it from there.

“Obviously, we are not quite where we expected or wanted to be but it is what it is now. We have to tackle it bit by bit and take one step at a time. It feels like what we are doing.”