Alpha Tauri F1 representative “I expect a lot from Nick de Vries”[F1-Gate.com]

AlphaTauri F1 team principal Franz Tost looks back on a difficult 2022 season, how he assesses the driver’s performance and what to expect from Nick de Vries in 2023. told whether

In the 2022 F1 World Championship, Scuderia AlphaTauri experienced a difficult and perhaps disappointing season, falling well short of its expectations of finishing ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Team principal Franz Tost expects a big improvement for 202.

“We didn’t have enough cars,” Tost told SPEEDWEEK about the reason for the lack of performance in 2022.

“We also had problems with development. We also had to deal with the cost cap, which we thought was over before the FIA ​​decided it was OK. But development was already slow. We were down and our performance remained below expectations.”

Franz Tost said of his driver for 2022: “Yuki Tsunoda has developed quite well and was able to improve, and was quicker than Pierre Gasly in the last qualifying. It’s up to him how much he can improve. I already expect him to have a strong 2023.”

“At the beginning of September it became clear that Gasly would move to Alpine. He is now very experienced but Alpine has a strong partner in Esteban Ocon who knows the team and the car well. Let’s see how quickly he gets integrated there.”

Franz Tost has been impressed and has high hopes for Nick de Vries, who will replace Pierre Gasly in 2023.

“As long as our car works, we expect a lot from Nick de Vries. He did a very good test in Abu Dhabi and his feedback was very good,” said Franz Tost. comment.

“We will prepare him well. There are still two tire tests and one private test before the official F11 tests start, which means he will have 3,000 to 4,000 kilometers before the start of the season. “He needs to be well prepared for the season.”

At the moment Franz Tost has not seen a direct F1 candidate for Red Bull Junior.

“Red Bull Jr. in F2 has done well, but they are still too inexperienced. I’m looking forward to seeing Ayumu Iwasa (5th overall) and Isaac Hajar, who is coming up from Formula 3 next season. Liam Lawson is good enough for Super Formula in Japan, it will definitely be interesting, but it will take another year or two for them to reach F1 level.”

Franz Tost expects the 2023 F1 title fight to be close.

“The kind of dominance that Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing have shown this year is pretty rare. Expect a three-way battle between Max, Charles Leclerc and George Russell, who is already stronger than Lewis Hamilton. ” says Franz Tost.

“The FIA ​​penalty will definitely hurt Red Bull Racing, even with some of the best engineers in the team. But I believe Red Bull Racing can fight for the world title again.”

Franz Tost believes the budget cap for 2022 is out of the question and “I don’t expect any team to go over it”, he said.

Also, regarding his former student Sebastian Vettel, who retired from F1 at the end of the 2022 season, “I can imagine him returning to F1 in some way. He has been involved in F1 for a long time. Sooner or later, he has a private life. I might get tired of it,” he said.

And finally, Franz Tost said about the future without Dietrich Mateschitz:

“We will see how we and Red Bull Racing continue in F1. Nothing will change in 2023. What happens after that is still to be determined,” said Franz Tost. He said he had a great personal relationship with Dietrich Mattischitz.

“He helped us a lot and I’m sure we’ll never see another person like that again. We will never see another person with this commitment and drive to support Formula 1 and our team. For me, Dietrich’s death is a great loss.”

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Category: F1 / Alpha Tauri / Nick de Vries

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