Aston Martin "will work hard to convince" Vettel to stay

Mike Krack has insisted Aston Martin "will work hard to convince" Sebastian Vettel to stay beyond the end of the current season.

The four-time F1 champion scored his first points of the year at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after missing the first two races due to contracting Covid-19.

Lance Stroll and Nico Hülkenberg were comfortably adrift of competitive pace in those events in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, whilst Vettel's return in Australia was littered with incidents, notably crashes in a practice session and the race.

Vettel was bombarded with questions about his future ahead of the Imola weekend, with the 34-year-old German refusing to rule out a potential exit at the end of the year.

Addressing the matter, Krack said: "The comments that he made, I think they are fair. A driver like that should not be driving for P18 or P16."

In light of Vettel's eighth place at Imola, Krack added: "Maybe he gets a bit more passion and joy to drive but it is for us to give him a proper car to be able to do what his level is.

"We will work hard to convince him."

Vettel "super helpful" for Aston Martin

Vettel joined Aston Martin ahead of the 2021 season with the hope of adding his title-winning experience to the optimistic Silverstone-based team.

Owner Lawrence Stroll outlined a five-year plan to become championship contenders but with the troubles experienced at the start of the season, the likelihood of losing Vettel is growing.

On why Vettel's presence within the team is so crucial, Krack explained: "For us, it is very, very important because to keep continuity is always something very important.

"Then also, the work ethic, the speed, the experience, if you have someone like him in the team it is of great added value.

"He has a lot of ideas, he is pushing hard. At the same time, he is realistic about what he can do at the moment and will try to do his best.

"All in all, it is very good because you have other drivers that have driven at a higher level that become impatient and very difficult to manage.

"That is not the case for Sebastian and this is super helpful for us. That is sort of why we want to stay with him."

Additional reporting by Ian Parkes

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