“He has struggled a lot,” Yuki Tsunoda urges Nyck de Vries to ‘to put it all together’ to save F1 seat

Yuki Tsunoda recalled his initial struggles and advised Nyck de Vries to step up on his performances.

“He has struggled a lot,” Yuki Tsunoda urges Nyck de Vries to ‘to put it all together’ to save F1 seat

Yuki Tsunoda (image via Autosport), Nyck de Vries (image via The-Race)

Nyck de Vries has struggled in his debut F1 season. The Dutch driver failed to deliver decent results at the start of the season and now even risks losing his seat at Alpha Tauri. De Vries’ teammate Yuki Tsunoda had gone through a similar situation during his rookie year on the team. The Japanese driver expressed his concerns over his teammate’s future in the sport.

Tsunoda believed that the Dutchman had shown promise in some sessions with a couple of decent Qualifying performances. The Japanese driver believed that de Vries had failed to showcase his true pace because Alpha Tauri presently has one of the slowest cars on the grid. He said, “He has just been unlucky because we are not in the fastest car right now so it is hard to get good results and show good performance.”

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The 23-year-old pushed his teammate to step up on his game to secure his F1 seat As the Japanese driver believed that Nyck de Vries had the pace to stay in F1. Rumors have been floating around that Red Bull and Dr. Helmut Marko are open to replacing de Vries soon. Tsunoda stated, “Nyck, I think he just needs to put it all together. The pace is there, so he probably just needs to find a rhythm because in most of the races, he has struggled a lot for consistency.”

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Yuki Tsunoda shares his own initial struggles at Alpha Tauri

Yuki Tsunoda driving the Alpha Tauri AT04 (image via SBNation)
Yuki Tsunoda driving the Alpha Tauri AT04 (image via SBNation)

Tsunoda struggled to match former teammate Pierre Gasly during his first year in F1. The 23-year-old believed that the lack of experience affected his early issues as he had only spent two years in Europe. The Japanese driver moved to Italy under the supervision of team boss Franz Tost. The Alpha Tauri driver bounced back after changes and adjustments made by the team.

The Japanese driver made it clear that as soon as changes were made by the team, including a new chassis, he was right on par with Gasly. Yuki Tsunoda stated that this lesson truly made him a strong driver to survive in F1. He said, “I don’t feel like it was just my problem. But still, there were lots of things I learned in a hard situation, that makes you stronger as a driver.”

Thus, Yuki Tsunoda has advocated for Nyck de Vries to improve his results in the coming season rounds. De Vries is under immense pressure to perform at the Faenza-based team, with Red Bull ready to oust the Dutchman at any moment. It remains to be seen if Nyck de Vries can find a way to secure his place at Alpha Tauri for the long term.

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