He knows how to win races AlphaTauri boss Tost backs De Vries to bounce back from pointless start to 2023

Nyck de Vries has not enjoyed the start to his F1 career that he would have liked. But Franz Tost, the manager of his departing AlphaTauri team, has publicly backed his Dutch charge, saying De Vriess’ experience of winning races and winning titles in other categories will help him going forward.

De Vries entered the F1 series a hype wave After a stunning performance for Williams at the 2022 Italian GP, ​​replacing the ill Alex Albon De Vries beat regular Williams driver Nicholas Latif to take P9, one of only five times the team scored points that season.

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However, after this stunning debut, progress has been more difficult in AlphaTauri in 2023, with De Vries finishing a best 12th so far, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda has scored for both teams, outscoring De Vries 6-2 and finishing ahead of the Dutchman seven times out of eight.

However, when asked about De Vries’ performance, Tost, who also mentors the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, said: I always say it’s really hard for rookies to break into Formula 1 these days.

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Why? Because, especially at the beginning of the season, they don’t know all the racetracks. Nyck didn’t know Melbourne, Saudi Arabia, Miami or Baku [where De Vries crashed out] we had a sprint race, which means that after FP1 there was already qualifying. This makes it really difficult for a young driver who is new to Formula 1.

He was asked what he said to De Vries to keep his spirits up. Tost, who will step down as AlphaTauri team principal at the end of the season, with Ferrari race director Laurent Mekies. in his place replied: I told him he should stay focused, he should stay confident because we all know he can do a good job.