AlphaTauri urge de Vries to avoid Verstappen comparisons

AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost has urged Nyck de Vries not to compare himself to his countryman Max Verstappen.

With de Vries being the first Dutchman to race in Formula 1 after Verstappen's two World Championship victories, Tost was questioned at AlphaTauri's launch of their 2023 F1 car on the possibility of comparisons being made between the two drivers from the Netherlands.

Tost hopes that the rookie will avoid thinking about this.

"He just has to sit in the car, do his best possible job and the results will come," Tost told media, including RacingNews365.com.

"If he looks to Max and if he compares himself with Max, then it will become difficult, because we must not forget Max is very, very experienced. He is an unbelievably skilled driver with unbelievable natural speed.

"The worst [that] you could do is to compare yourself with Max Verstappen, who has a very special environment [in] working together with the best engineers in the Formula 1 field, with a fantastic team with Red Bull Racing, with all the resources which they have."

Tost on de Vries' goals

Tost wants de Vries – who impressed as a substitute for an unwell Alex Albon in a one-off appearance for Williams at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix – to focus on his own abilities as he prepares to make his full-time F1 debut.

"Nyck should just be concentrated [on doing] the best possible job in our car," Tost explained.

"I hope that we can provide him with a car which he deserves, mainly, to be all the time in [Q3 in] qualifying and to score as many points as possible.

"Then he will reach his target, his goals, and the rest we will see."