AlphaTauri Chief Details High Expectations For Nyck de Vries
According to AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost, Nyck de Vries is poised to make a strong start to the 2023 Formula 1 season.
Although de Vries is one of three rookies in the field this year, alongside Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant, he has significantly more motorsport experience than his fellow debutants.
The Dutch driver has already made his F1 debut at last year's Italian Grand Prix when he was called up by Williams. He impressed in qualifying and went on to finish in ninth place, boosting his chances of securing a 2023 drive.
Due to his previous racing experience, Tost believes that de Vries will be able to perform well right from the start of the season, beginning with the opening race in Bahrain.
The team chief explained:
“Nyck de Vries is doing a really good job, he’s very experienced, you can see this.
“You can see and feel that he is 28 years old, that he won a lot of races and championships.
“I think that he will be able to adapt to Formula 1 immediately. I expect him to perform well from the first qualifying onwards.”
De Vries had a successful pre-season test in Bahrain, completing 246 laps over the course of the three-day event, which was the second-highest total among all drivers.
Tost praised de Vries for his positive attitude and dedication, noting that his feedback to the team's engineers following the shakedown was a "wake-up call" for the team. Tost continued:
“Always when a new driver is coming [the dynamic changes], if it’s not a young driver coming from lower series.
“He brings in some input, some technical ideas, and with Nyck, we were lucky that he last year was in contact with many teams and many cars.
“I think that our engineers got a good technical feedback from his side, especially after the Abu Dhabi test, where he did a lot of laps and where he fortunately complained a lot about the car, because this was a wake-up call for the engineers.
“I hope that we can provide him with a car which performs in the way he likes it.”
The Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend will set off the 2023 season.