Aston Martin expects ‘great partnership’ between Vettel and Stroll

Aston Martin F1 team boss Otmar Szafnauer believes that Lance Stroll’s talent and youth will combine with Sebastian Vettel’s experience to form a “great partnership” at the Silverstone outfit.

Vettel’s move on to Aston in the wake of a disappointing end to his six-year stint with Ferrari during which he was outperformed by his younger up-and-coming teammate Charles Leclerc.

The four-time world champion ambitions to turn around his fortunes with Aston Martin, but sitting on the other side of his team’s garage will be another talented young gun who also happens to be the team owner’s son.

But Szafnauer believes Stroll and Vettel will not only push each on, the pair will also work hand in hand to spur their team on.

“I think he [Vettel] and Lance will be a great partnership,” the Aston team boss told Sky Sports’ Craig Slater.

“Seb is very experienced, but not over the hill by any means at the age of 33. And Lance is much younger and on a learning curve but naturally very fast. I think that combination will suit us very well.”

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Under Szafnauer’s management, Racing Point has always enjoyed cohesive and consistently performing line-ups, although Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon produced a few fraught moments for their team during their first season together in 2017.

But Aston’s team boss is confident that Stroll and Vettel will remain unified in their collaboration even as they go head-to-head on the track.

“The other thing is that we’ve had a history of drivers working very closely together to extract the most we can out of the team and the car,” added Szafnauer.

“Even in the days here Esteban and Sergio would occasionally come together on the track, behind the scenes they shared all their data, they worked together.

“They worked tirelessly to make sure that we got the best out of the car over the weekend. That will continue with Sebastian and Lance. I look forward to that.

“Lance can learn from Seb and Seb can learn from Lance as well, because Lance is the veteran here. He’s the one who has driven last year’s car, he knows the characteristics more so than Seb does.”

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