Tom Coronel stands up for Nyck de Vries and expects that he will eventually just stand there. The AlphaTauri driver is driving an entire season in Formula 1 for the first time, after he was allowed to drive a race for Williams once before. De Vries finished ninth there. This season, the born Frisian did not get further than fourteenth place, but according to Coronel he need not worry.
“We have to be patient for four to five races,” Coronel starts in conversation with F1Maximum. He therefore expects De Vries to come. “You already saw in the first free practice (in Australia, ed.) That he was faster than Yuki Tsunoda.” AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost also thinks De Vries can be there if he gets a better car. Coronel adds: ‘He should be there in four to five races. He just has to feel and organize those weekends.’
Always worked out well at De Vries
So far, De Vries has been beaten by Tsunoda in the first three races. But according to Coronel it is a matter of getting a feeling. “That should be fine now,” he expects. ‘It has always worked out for Nyck, all the championships he has ever ridden in his entire life. So why wouldn’t it work out this time? Everything is new, a whole weekend like that is new to him in terms of layout.’
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Where AlphaTauri was on ten points after the first three races last season, they now only have one. Already after the first race in Bahrain, Tost said that we have to work hard to get a faster car. ‘It’s a chicken coop, I really expected more from it,’ says Coronel. “I thought it couldn’t get any worse than last year. If the team boss is not happy with how his car is, then I don’t even have to report it anymore.
‘What is disappointing?’
With De Vries, two Dutchmen are currently driving in Formula 1. Where Max Verstappen in the Red Bull is all going well, that is not yet the case with De Vries. Coronel does not want to start talking about disappointing results. ‘What is failure? In the past, if we had a Dutchman in Formula 1, it was already something. If Max finishes second, then we will also be confused’, concludes Coronel.
By: Rick Pasker | Twitter: @rickpasker
