Sebastian Vettel has two or three races to get ahead of Lance Stroll at Aston Martin, that is the harsh reality of the situation according to former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher.

The British Racing Green-clad team have found themselves struggling so far in 2021 with them well short of the performance that they had in 2020 under the Racing Point name.

Indeed, it's clear that the regulation tweaks that were made for this new season have set them back and it's hurting Vettel most who, in his new team, is yet to score a world championship point.

He's trailing team-mate Lance Stroll by five in the standings, then, and, though that deficit can be made up pretty quickly with a couple of good results, Ralf Schumacher feels that Vettel only has two or three races where he can say he's still learning about the new car before the excuses need to stop.

“Sebastian Vettel’s task in the coming races will be to dominate his team-mate,” Schumacher told Sky Germany. “As a four-time World Champion, he has to."

“If he is not clearly better there and does not bring the team forward, then at some point you have to ask yourself whether all of this still makes sense.

“But we are not there yet. We should give him two or three more races, but then the problem of getting used to the Aston Martin should slowly be over.”

Formula 1 heads to Monaco this weekend for the most iconic Grand Prix of the year and qualifying will be crucial, so Vettel will be eager to try and get in front of Stroll on Saturday.

Of course, he's still getting to grips with his new car having joined from Ferrari but, after what happened in 2020 at the Scuderia, there are naturally question marks still needing to be answered by the four-time world champion.

Can he start providing such responses around the streets of Monte-Carlo? We'll soon find out...