Nyck de Vries asserts that he is feeling “very supported” amid his difficult start to life as a full-time Formula 1 driver.
De Vries was signed by AlphaTauri for the 2023 campaign following his impressive outing with Williams at last year’s Italian Grand Prix.
However, the Dutchman has endured a difficult period as he has been largely outpaced by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, while also being involved in a series of on-track mishaps.
It has led to increased talk of a potential departure from the squad – a situation that de Vries admits comes as little surprise to him.
But the 28-year-old insists that the team is behind him to help him through the struggle.
“I feel very supported in my current environment,” he said. “The team is behind me, and I have a good relationship with everybody.
“I definitely feel very warmly welcomed and supported in my environment. It’s not really different than previously.
“You’re as good as your last race. If you would have asked the same question after Monza, everyone would have had a very different perception.
“Now that I’ve had a bit of a more difficult start of the season, then it becomes more relevant.
“I don’t really go in that much depth, it’s just, I don’t really go in that much depth. I made some mistakes, and that’s it.”
De Vries enjoyed a stronger weekend in Monaco and was able to lap closer to the times set by Tsunoda during the weekend.
His performance didn’t go unnoticed by Red Bull advisor, Dr Helmut Marko.
This was by far his best weekend for AlphaTauri,” Marko told Motorsport.com. “Nyck was much closer to Yuki than before. This is what I want to see from him.
“Yuki was also really good until the brake problems came again. This is something that has to be solved by the team, they have brake problems so often.”
