Reassurance for Nyck de Vries after Monaco Grand Prix

Under-pressure AlphaTauri driver has been praised by team boss Franz Tost after his twelfth-place finish in the Monaco Grand Prix.

With rumours rife that the Dutchman may be replaced at the Red Bull sister-team, Tost says de Vries is doing his best at growing with the team to maximise his performance in his debut F1 season.

“Nyck did also a very good job in Monaco and you know, he is getting more and more familiar with the car, with the team and, as I always say, nowadays, if rookies come into Formula 1, it’s really difficult for them to learn everything so fast – because if you look at the first races, some of the tracks, they even don’t know. Melbourne, for example, or Saudi Arabia, or Miami – and then you have a Sprint race like in Baku with Qualifying immediately after the first free practice – and that’s not easy for the young drivers.”

“The midfield is very close together, it’s just hundredths of seconds difference and to perform well, you really have to get everything together, and I must say that Nyck did a really good job in Monaco and also this morning in the FP1 session. He showed a very good performance.”

De Vries qualified 12th, behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda who made Q3 and started ninth on the grid. The rookie held his own and finished as he started, with Tsunoda falling to 15th by the chequered flag. It was a performance under pressure for de Vries, with the speculation of his replacement reaching a crescendo before the Monaco Grand Prix.

“In Formula 1, you always feel a pressure but he knew by himself that the start of the season was not as expected,” said Tost.

“But this is not only his fault."

“Also, the car was not very good and if you have a car which is not performing so well, having to learn new tracks, then life is really difficult and I must say that now everything is getting together and I'm quite optimistic for the future.”

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