Sebastian Vettel conceded he was “upset and angry” as his first qualifying outing with Aston Martin in Bahrain ended at the first hurdle.
Vettel was among the drivers battling to make it out of Q1 when yellow flags were shown at different parts of the circuit.
Nikita Mazepin spun on the approach to Turn 1 due to a brake-by-wire issue while Carlos Sainz slowed exiting Turn 8 amid a power unit glitch.
Vettel was subsequently unable to second a representative timed effort as the chequered flag flew and he was shuffled down to 18th position.
“Certainly, we should be a lot faster, so we just made it across the flag and then yeah, had the issue obviously with the yellow flags during the lap so that made it a little bit impossible to come back,” said Vettel.
“But it is what it is now and we try to see what we can do tomorrow.”
On his attitude Vettel replied: “If I panicked now would it help? If I was really upset? For sure I am upset and angry that it wasn’t our fault in a way not to make it through but yeah, we have to take it and do what we can, preparing tomorrow.”
Vettel nonetheless admitted that he is still getting up to speed in the AMR21.
“I’m learning,” he said. “I think the quali was good and it felt positive, obviously I only got like a lap and a half, but I think we still have a lot of work ahead of us.
“I think you know we would have hoped for a better start but it is what it is. Hopefully tomorrow we have a good race.”
