AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost says he is expecting Nyck de Vries to deliver strong results in the opening rounds of the 2023 Formula 1 season.
De Vries is one of three rookies in the F1 field alongside Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant, but has vast experience in motorsport over his debutant counterparts.
The Dutchman already has one race start to his name after he was called up by Williams at last year’s Italian Grand Prix.
At that event, he impressed in qualifying before going on to score a ninth-place finish, which boosted his prospects of a 2023 drive.
Due to his experience, Tost says that he anticipates that the 28-year-old will be on form from the get-go this weekend in Bahrain.
“Nyck de Vries is doing a really good job, he’s very experienced, you can see this,” Tost said.
“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 an untroubled pre-season test in Bahrain, setting 246 laps across the three days of running – the second most of any driver in the field.
Tost has commended de Vries for his attitude and discipline, insisting his feedback to the AlphaTauri engineers after its launch shakedown was a “wake-up call” for the team.
“Always when a new driver is coming [the dynamic changes], if it’s not a young driver coming from lower series,” he said.
“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.”
