De Vries: 'Because of this, point will be very difficult for us'

Two more nights of sleep and then the new race weekend begins in Jeddah. In Bahrain, we got a good idea of the mutual balance of power between the teams. Will Jeddah surprise us? Nyck de vries looks ahead to the upcoming Grand Prix in an AlphaTauri press release.

Bahrain marked the start of the Dutchman's first Formula 1 season. "It felt great to finally really start our season and campaign together in Bahrain. It’s been a long lead up to that moment and ultimately, we are racers, we want to go out there and compete. I’m very happy that we have the first one out of the way and that we’re basically getting into the race rhythm." For him, was the weekend very different from those many other weekends in his career? "Parts of my first full F1 weekend were a little bit busier than I’d been used to, but in all honesty, it was all well-organised and managed. In the end, in any professional racing series, they operate fairly similarly. Obviously, Formula 1 is a much bigger platform, but regarding the weekend itself, there were no major surprises. Of course, there is a little bit more media work and other activities but ultimately, what happens on track is still the most important."

AlphaTauri stuck in the midfield

After the winter tests, many followers feared that AlphaTauri would be at the back of the grid. In Bahrain, AlphaTauri finally seemed to be one of the teams that seem to be stuck in the midfield. Still, De Vries is not yet satisfied. "I think there is no hiding that we’re not exactly where we want to be in terms of performance. There is still a lot of work to be done. We feel like we need to close the gap even more in low-speed corners and Bahrain has a lot of those so we hope that Saudi will suit our package a little bit better."

Can AlphaTauri get points?

The Dutchman already has his first points in Formula 1, after that impressive foray at Williams in Monza last year. The first points at AlphaTauri are still waiting. Are there opportunities in Saudi Arabia? "Ultimately, the midfield is so extremely close and fighting for points is going to be a tough battle because you have at least four top teams in front which are already taking eight positions. It’s going to be a challenge, but we’ve just got to make sure we don’t leave anything unturned so that we can capitalise on potential opportunities."

Yet De Vries does not yet dare to make any firm statements about where his Italian racing stable now stands. "We were clearly in the mix but again, that’s only one weekend. I think we need to do more races to get a bigger picture before we can draw conclusions."

Different story in Jeddah

At least tyre wear will be less of an issue next weekend. "Tyre degradation was an important factor in the first race, but I think Bahrain is a strong outlier when it comes to degradation. The tarmac is probably the oldest of the calendar, so I’m very confident that in Saudi it will be a different story", the AlphaTauri driver said.

De Vries is very curious about the fast circuit in Jeddah. "I attended the race last year, but I’ve never driven the Jeddah track, even though I’ve driven it quite a lot on the simulator, most recently last week. It seems very cool: quick and tricky. I’m honestly very much looking forward to the challenge, learning a new track and being back out racing."