Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel has offered a pretty negative prediction for the rest of the 2021 Formula 1 season with him suggesting that third place is already out of reach for his new team in the Constructors' standings.

Last season, running under the Racing Point name, the team narrowly missed out on third place as they battled McLaren and Renault for the title of 'best of the rest' behind Mercedes and Red Bull.

Indeed, the hope was that that battle would continue into the new campaign for the now-Aston Martin team, with great excitement around the arrival of Sebastian Vettel who, despite his struggles at Ferrari in 2020, still possesses plenty of top experience.

However, hopes of Vettel challenging for regular points and even podiums this season already appear to be dashed, with the Aston Martin cars, at best, finishing just inside the top ten so far this season and that's only come via Lance Stroll's performances on a Sunday.

Indeed, quoted by German outlet F1 Insider, former Red Bull driver Vettel has already ruled out a third place in the Constructors' this year, with him yet to score a point for his new team:

"It is difficult to set a goal. But third place is already too far away.

"We find it difficult to make the right step forward, but we still have a few races to go."

sebastian vettel

Certainly, it's hard to really argue against Seb's prediction because, ultimately, the British Racing Green machines have not been at the races - if you'll pardon the pun - when it comes to regular top ten finishes, let alone top five challenges.

McLaren, Ferrari, Alpine and AlphaTauri all look a step ahead of them at the moment and there's clearly work to do before they can start thinking about similar levels of performance as they had in 2020.