Sebastian Vettel had to miss the first two races of the season. But he is back to the Aston Martin F1 base. Further, he will get behind the wheels of his 2022 challenger for his first race for a race, in Australia. But Nico Hulkenberg shares that the four-time world champion would be behind other drivers in that race.

Vettel showcased some decent performance at the pre-season testing. But even before he got the chance to perform in the season-opener, Seb tested positive for COVID-19. So he had to miss the Bahrain race and further, had to miss the second race of the season in Jeddah.

In Seb’s absence, Aston Martin summoned their reserve driver, Nico Hulkenberg. However, the reserve German driver wasn’t an immense help for the British constructor. Hulkenberg finished P17 and P12. The Silverstone-based team is at the bottom beside Williams with 0 points.

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As of now, the team is happy with the return of Vettel who tested for negative for the virus. However, the leaving Hulkenberg is worried about Vettel as he missed the first two races. Nico shared, “He will start behind because of missing the first two races, that’s clear. But he’s very talented, I think he can definitely make up for it. He just has a little more work to do, and that means he has to dig a little deeper.”

‘Motivated’ Sebastian Vettel can still fight for podiums

The 34-year-old is undoubtedly one of the best F1 drivers in the world. He even won his four world championship titles in four consecutive seasons. But Vettel achieved this magnificent feat as a Red Bull driver and, after that, he couldn’t win a championship with Ferrari.

After his six failed seasons with Ferrari, Seb joined Aston Martin in 2021. He hoped to help the new F1 team to reach glory while claiming a title for himself. However, his plans weren’t fulfilled last season as he and only bagged a single podium.

However, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who shared a lot of time with Vettel, still believes that the German is capable enough to fight for podiums. But the Silverstone-based team doesn’t have the competitive car to help Vettel in his plans.

Marko said, “You saw that in Baku, and he was also very quick in Monte Carlo […] But where Aston Martin is at the moment, I don’t think the motivation will be too great.”

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Sebastian Vettel would get behind the AMR22 in the upcoming Australian GP. Let’s see how the four-time world champion performs in his first race this season.