Tsunoda urges de Vries to 'pull it all together' to save AlphaTauri seat

AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda has insisted Nyck de Vries has been "unlucky" not to have shown peak performance in his rookie Formula 1 season.

The Dutchman entered F1 with an impressive CV, having become World Champion with Mercedes in Formula E as well as securing F2 honours in his junior career.

But 27-year-old de Vries has struggled to impart his talent on the F1 grid, remaining scoreless this year with a number of minor incidents curbing his progress.

De Vries is one of only two drivers not to have scored alongside Williams rookie Logan Sargeant, and comments from Red Bull Motorsport Advisor Helmut Marko ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend have ramped up the pressure on him.

Marko suggested that Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner did not want de Vries at AlphaTauri and that the Briton was being "proven correct", before suggesting his position was under review in a separate interview.

Tsunoda experienced similar pressure in his rookie season after a crash-strewn opening half of his debut campaign, but when asked if he felt sympathy for his teammate, the Japanese driver told media, including RacingNews365.com: "It is a different situation.

"It was not only my reason and obviously, they knew that it was not just [my] problem. It was my third year here, two years ago I was in Japan and never raced in Europe.

"So I felt good stepping up to F1 after two years here but knowing I needed more experience, but at the same time, consistently showing my one-lap pace.

"Maybe in the race I didn't manage to get it consistently, but at least I could show there was pace and also, it was not just my problem.

"Nyck is already showing good pace in practice and a couple of qualifying.

"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."

Not just my problem

"Why I struggled in my first half of the season, it was not just my problem," added Tsunoda.

"The second half of the season, after Turkey, when Alex [Albon] came, it looks like from outside I suddenly picked up the pace, but it was not that.

"We changed the perspective, the chassis, for example. I was behind Pierre [Gasly] by two seconds in practice in Russia and there was no way I felt normal. That lap I felt good and I was two seconds behind.

"We finally figured out what was going on, we changed the chassis and starting in FP1 in Turkey, I had never driven there and suddenly we were the same pace.

"So 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.

"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.

"He will get there because in the past races, the results he has achieved has shown he can do it."