Nick de Vries: I am self-critical about my work

The upcoming Australian Grand Prix will be Nick de Vries’ first race at Albert Park and Dutch driver AlphaTauri hopes the team will make gradual progress. But he evaluates his work rather self-critically, believing that in the previous phase of the season he did not act in the best way.

Nick de Vries: “This is my first time in Melbourne and I’m really enjoying myself these days. I flew to Australia quite early to get used to the jet lag, but I still don’t sleep well and wake up at night.

At the same time, we train very intensively – an excellent gym has been found not far from the track, located in a building that looks like an old chapel. The hallmark of this hall has become a dog with a rather formidable appearance, but in fact it is very kind. Although I am usually afraid of dogs.

When we talk about our position in the championship, I think we need a positive attitude, and in order to move forward and gradually close the gap with the top ten, we need to think about a plan that consists of several small stages . .

After the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix I felt there were good moments in the race, for example I drove very competitively in the last eight laps. At the same time, it seems to me that I did not act well enough when I got into traffic.

I had particularly serious problems on the restart, when we were on hard tyres: it took me too much time to get them to work effectively. That is why I self-critically assess my performance. I think I didn’t act in the best way in some stages of the race.

But overall, after two stages of the season, I feel like we are making gradual progress, which is encouraging. I hope that the movement forward continues this weekend and that we will be fighting for points. The team is in a good mood, everyone wants to rise to higher positions. I hope we can do it as the season progresses.”

In Saudi Arabia, Franz Tost, the head of Nick’s team, said he no longer trusted his engineers, although these words were uttered in a joking tone. Nick de Vries thinks they have been taken out of context.

“I sincerely believe that there is a great atmosphere in the team, which has not changed after these comments,” the Dutchman replied. – I think words are sometimes taken out of context because the whole team is now thinking about what can be done to be as fast as Red Bull Racing.

We all strive to improve, we do everything we can to move the team forward, because we passionately love what we do. I am happy to play for AlphaTauri and I have no doubt that we will continue to make progress.”