Saudi Arabia GP Live: Sebastian Vettel ruled out – Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel has been ruled out of Saudi Arabia GP this weekend. The German is yet to return a negative result after contracting Covid-19 ahead of Bahrain GP. Fellow German Nico Hulkenberg will continue to fill in for him at Aston Martin in Jeddah. Follow Formula 1 and Saudi Arabia GP Live Updates on InsideSport.IN
BREAKING: Sebastian Vettel will miss this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to Covid-19 with Nico Hulkenberg to drive for Aston Martin in his place.
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) March 25, 2022
Sebastian Vettel is expected to be back in the action for the third round in Australia. The Australian Grand Prix will take place from 8th to 10th April.
Saudi Arabia GP Live: It’s Official! Sebastian Vettel ruled out, Nico Hulkenberg to fill in for Aston Martin in Jeddah
Earlier, Mike Krack, the team principal for Aston Martin said, “He was participating in the debrief. He was sounding less rough than he was sounding a couple of days ago. But we do not know. We will see how he goes for the next few days. We hope he will be back soon.”
Sebastian Vettel was the second driver to test Covid positive in a span of two weeks. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was forced to miss the Pre-season Testing in Bahrain after testing positive for Covid 19. But, somehow he managed to make a comeback for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
#SaudiArabianGP Update:@HulkHulkenberg will practice, qualify and race alongside @lance_stroll.
Despite lack of mileage in the #AMR22, Nico coped well in Bahrain and we are sure he will do likewise in Jeddah.
We expect Sebastian Vettel to be fit for the #AustralianGP. pic.twitter.com/SgiSYwxZY2
— Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) March 25, 2022
After the Bahrain Grand Prix, Mike Krack said that Vettel is improving. But, it is still unclear whether he would make a comeback for the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix this weekend. Krack also said that Vettel had to follow both Saudi Arabia’s Covid 19 protocol and the internal one for Aston Martin before making a comeback.
UPDATE: Sebastian Vettel has not yet returned the required negative COVID test to fly to the #SaudiArabiaGP. Nico Hülkenberg will be in Jeddah to deputise for Seb if necessary. We will delay our final decision until Friday to provide Seb every opportunity to race.
— Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) March 24, 2022
Krack said, “It’s a bit of both, but to be honest I am not 100% aware of the Saudi regulations. If he has a negative test, it will be easy. Better to get it now than in two weeks’ time.”
Saudi Arabia GP Live: It’s Official! Sebastian Vettel ruled out, Nico Hulkenberg to fill in for Aston Martin in Jeddah
Saudi Arabia GP Live: Nico Hulkenberg returns to F1 action
Aston Martin’s reserve driver was called on short notice and flew to Bahrain on Thursday. He drove the AMR22 for the first time in practice on Friday. It was Nico’s first F1 start since Eifel Grand Prix in 2020. He was driving in for Lance Stroll after he had been tested positive for Covid 19.
When asked Nico whether he would be driving in the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, Nico said, “No, not yet. I don’t know. I’m just going anyway on standby and as a reserve, and I guess we’ll find out on Thursday or Friday.”
Saudi Arabia GP Live: It’s Official! Sebastian Vettel ruled out, Nico Hulkenberg to fill in for Aston Martin in Jeddah
Nico Hulkenberg out-qualified the full-time driver for Aston Martin, Lance Stroll on Saturday. But, eventually finished the race in 17th position and also the last.
Nico added, “It was difficult, very difficult, in combat mode. The beginning was okay. But I was just hanging on, it was tough for me. Once you’re out of that mode of just running with new, fresh tyres and know the limitations become more. You have to manage and understand the car a lot more. So that was difficult.”
“It was a big learning experience today. So we went OK, I think then I tried to overtake someone, outbraked myself a bit into Turn 1. And from there onwards, it was kind of a downward spiral. I got lapped quite soon, and you just fall back and back more and more. But, yeah, it was what it was.”
Saudi Arabia GP Live: It’s Official! Sebastian Vettel ruled out, Nico Hulkenberg to fill in for Aston Martin in Jeddah
