Vettel still positive, Hülkenberg waiting

Sebastian Vettel will he compete in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix? Tested positive for Covid-19 on March 17 on the eve of the first day of the 2022 season in Bahrain, the quadruple world champion had logically been sidelined for the opening Grand Prix and replaced by Nico Hulkenberg.

So a week later is he ready to take back possession of his AMR22? Not really. In a press release distributed this Thursday, Aston Martin indicated that Sebastian Vettel had still not been able to travel to Saudi Arabia due to his situation.

« Sebastian Vettel has still not returned a negative Covid-19 test required to travel to Saudi Arabia, writes the English team. Nico Hülkenberg will be in Jeddah to replace Seb if necessary. We will delay our final decision until Friday to give Seb every chance to race."

UPDATE: Sebastian Vettel has not yet returned the required negative COVID test to fly to the #SaudiArabiaGP. Nico Hülkenberg will be in Jeddah to deputize for Seb if necessary. We will delay our final decision until Friday to provide Seb every opportunity to race.

—Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) March 24, 2022

In the event of another withdrawal from Sebastian Vettel, Nico Hülkenberg would replace an Aston Martin driver, and Racing Point before, for the 5^e times over the last two years. In 2020, he made up for the absence of Sergio Pérez twice (British Grand Prix and the 70^e birthday) as well as that of Lance stroll (Eifel Grand Prix) and more recently that of his compatriot in Bahrain.

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