Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack is hopeful of retaining Sebastian Vettel's services beyond this season, describing as "very positive" and "constructive" the current talks between team and driver.
The collaboration between Vettel and Aston Martin that started in 2021 has so far borne little fruit, but the shortfall is rooted in the Silverstone-based outfit's struggles in fielding a competitive machine rather than in Vettel's own underperformance.
Last season, Vettel scored seven top-ten finishes while the German has only finished in the points in four races so far in 2022, achieving his best result in Baku where he was P6.
This year, the seven-time world champion has grabbed the headlines for his climate change, environmental and equality activism in F1, rather than for his sporting results.
For many in the paddock, the prospect of Vettel departing the grid at the end of the season appears as a greater possibility with each passing race.
Yet Krack is hopeful of keeping the 53-time Grand Prix winner onboard for 2023, if only to reap the benefits of his hard work with the team in the past two years.
©AstonMartin
"Well, we are in talks," said Krack, quoted by Formula1.com. "Sebastian is very, very positive, very constructive, so from that point of view, I really hope that we can continue.
"Also, maybe the investment that he has made now over two years, he should also maybe be in a position to get something from it and not hand it to someone else later.
"But we’re confident that we can make this a success with the talks that we are having."
Although there has been little cause to rejoice so far for Vettel and teammate Lance Stroll, Krack insists both drivers are maintaining a positive and constructive attitude towards the future.
"I think both drivers, we really have to say hats off, how they cope with it, how constructive they still are with us," said the Aston team boss.
"There is no bad word, nothing at all. We try to do this together, try to get out together, they give us very good feedback. And it would be easy for them to get frustrated but this is not what happens.
"Both Lance and Sebastian, they’re very constructive in all the meetings and you could not sense any lack of pushing or motivation from the current situation."
Aston Martin introduced a significant – and also controversial – upgrade at the Spanish Grand Prix back in May.
Denounced by Red Bull for its resemblance with certain prominent features of the race winning RB18, the package hasn't delivered a performance anywhere near its RB18 counterpart.
Krack says the team will continue refining its AMR22, but a switch to next year's car is likely to soon be in the works.
"Yes, we want to continue developing this car – obviously we need to respect the financial implications that we are having – but we have a plan in place that we made a while ago that we are trying to follow as much as we can," commented Krack.
"Obviously you always have to adjust it depending on what is your wind tunnel result, what is your latest race result, but we’re very confident that we can improve it further, and we will do so race by race.
"We need to balance now what are we going to do with the current car, and how much of a compromise do we take in continuing with the current car and going into the next one?
"It’s a tough call, but... we’re only halfway into the season, we must not forget. We do not want to continue now the year on this level of performance."
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