De Vries has concerns but is also hopeful: 'Achieved three podiums here'

The Friesian has plenty to look forward to."Baku will be my very first Sprint weekend and that will be particularly challenging with just one hour of free practice before qualifying." Nevertheless, the former F2 champion has enough reason to travel to Baku with confidence.

"I’ve been to the track before, with three second place finishes in Formula 2," the Alpha Tauri driver sounds hopeful.

The former Mercedes protégé is hugely looking forward to the race weekend:"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, so hopefully things will go our way and we’ll have something to cheer about come the end of it."

The rookie could desperately use a good result. In the first three races of the season, teammate Yuki Tsunoda was consistently faster. The Dutchman, who was brought in with high expectations, sees the pressure mounting.

Little reason for optimism for AlphaTauri

But what are the chances for the Italian racing stable? The season of Red Bull's sister team has been hugely disappointing so far, although a reborn Yuki Tsunoda managed to score a point in Australia, albeit with some luck. "I feel we are making progress, but the midfield is still very tight, and it is very challenging to fight for points because in a “normal” race the top ten is solidly occupied."

De Vries is not giving up, but he does not have a lot of reason for optimism. "We need to make sure we are ready to capitalise on any mistakes made by those who would normally be top ten. 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."