Sebastian Vettel will miss another grand prix with Covid

Sebastian Vettel still hasn’t recovered sufficiently from the bout of Covid that kept him out of last week’s Bahrain Grand Prix, so Nico Hulkenberg will sub in for the second race in a row in Saudi Arabia this weekend.

The team hasn’t said whether Vettel continues to display symptoms or if he simply hasn’t returned a negative test, but the four-time world champ is expected to be fit for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in a fortnight’s time.

"After familiarising myself with the AMR22 in Bahrain last weekend, racing in Saudi Arabia will give me the opportunity to develop and further improve my understanding of the car,” said Hulkenberg. “In addition, the work I did back in the simulator earlier this week has given me some extra insight and helped me prepare for this fast and flowing track.

“Obviously, I wish Sebastian a speedy recovery, but I am really looking forward to the challenge and will be doing my best for the whole team this weekend."

The season-opener - in which Ferrari claimed a 1-2 finish after both Red Bulls retired late on - was enthralling for many reasons, but not for Aston: neither Hulkenberg nor Lance Stroll made it out of the first part of qualifying, and in the race they finished 17th and 12th respectively.

The result is especially disappointing for the team given that it scored a memorable victory from the back of the field at the same venue less than 18 months ago in its previous guise as Racing Point.

Can Hulkenberg get to grips with the new technical regulations and deliver an improved result this weekend? The only way is up…