De Vries apologises to mechanics after dramatic weekend in Baku

AlphaTauri scored a fine point in Baku thanks to Yuki Tsunoda with the Japanese driver finishing tenth in the main race. On the other hand, teammate Nyck de Vries had a disastrous weekend. The Dutchman is hoping for the turnaround in Miami, at least not one of those weekends where he gives his mechanics' hands full of work because of all kinds of crashes.

Several times in Baku, De Vries ran into the wall, in Sunday's race, for example. "The best thing you can do after a weekend like the one I had in Baku is to get straight back in the car, and fortunately, that’s exactly what I can do with this second part of the back-to-back. It’s fair to say I had a bit of bad luck, and also what happened in the race last Sunday was purely my fault. It was a difficult weekend, not just for me, but mainly for the mechanics, as I gave them a lot more work to do. I’m sorry for that and I really appreciate how hard they worked to get my car back on track."

Unique experience

According to De Vries, the AlphaTauri is becoming more competitive with every race, and Miami may be the place to reap the benefits of that. De Vries will have to get used to the track first, though, which is why he has not yet driven an official session with an F1 car. "I have been to the Miami track before. I was there last year, mainly doing show runs on Ocean Drive, which was a very unique experience. It’s a really cool thing that I can say I did 180-degree spins there in a Formula 1 car. I had a good time, and it’s great that the US is gathering so much momentum for Formula 1. Miami is an attractive venue, and I’m looking forward to racing there. It’s going to be a tough race as it gets pretty hot there in the daytime. I’ll take it a step at a time."

Teammate Tsunoda reached Q3 in Miami last season and likes the track. "The atmosphere there is definitely special, and the American fans are very enthusiastic. My memories of that week are that it is very hot and the humidity was quite high, which made the race quite demanding physically. Last year, I hadn’t expected that, but I will be prepared this time. I did a lot of Miami work in the simulator, and it has some sections similar to Baku, so I hope we can be on the pace and keep making progress with the car.”