Nyck de Vries says AlphaTauri is not in a position to score points on merit and must be ready to capitalise on any misfortune further up the grid.
AlphaTauri slipped to ninth place in last year’s Constructors’ Championships and its struggles have continued through the early stages of 2023.
De Vries’ team-mate Yuki Tsunoda snuck into the top 10 amid the chaos in Australia to pick up the team’s first point of the year.
It is in front of Williams in the championship only on results countback.
De Vries enters the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the foot of the Drivers’ championship.
“I feel we are making progress, but the midfield is still very tight,” said de Vries.
“It is very challenging to fight for points because in a “normal” race the top 10 is solidly occupied.
“We need to make sure we are ready to capitalise on any mistakes made by those who would normally be top 10.
“While I see signs of progress, Baku demands a lot of straight-line speed and so far, our straight-line speed has not been that competitive. Let’s wait and see how it works out.”
This weekend’s Baku round will be de Vries’ first experience of F1 Sprint at a venue where he has previously competed thrice in Formula 2.
“We’re all excited to go racing again after this long break,” he said. “The track is quite unique in the sense that, usually on street tracks, overtaking is very challenging, but the extremely long straight produces opportunities, which is why the races at Baku have often been quite eventful.
“Hopefully things will go our way and we’ll have something to cheer about come the end of it.”
