Verstappen with tip for De Vries: "Be faster than your teammate"

Max Verstappen hopes Nyck de Vries will do well at AlphaTauri this season. The Red Bull Racing driver hopes his 28-year-old compatriot will do well and secure a place in the middle of the pack. Verstappen also states that he is curious to see how Mercedes and Aston Martin will do.

De Vries starts his first race on behalf of AlphaTauri this weekend. Verstappen still has some advice. "You have to be faster than your teammate in the first place, that's the most important thing. And also just be consistent. Everyone makes mistakes, there will probably be some, but that's okay. Just work well with your team and just show that you deserve it," Verstappen said.

During a press event with the Dutch media, which was also attended by GPblog, the two-time world champion further revealed that his teammate Sergio Pérez is extremely keen to show this season that he can fight for the world title. Everything is back to zero and so Verstappen knows he will have to be on the ball for the next 23 Grands Prix. "That's always the case, every year. In itself, it doesn't change that much."

Aston Martin improve significantly

During winter testing, Mercedes did not impress all that much with the W14. The team had hoped to make a bigger step, but Verstappen is not dismissing Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Yet he would also not be surprised if Aston Martin is faster than Mercedes this weekend. "It also depends, Mercedes have brought a different rear wing, I guess that will also be more efficient. But I think Aston Martin did build a really good car."

According to Verstappen, it is especially important to keep tyre degradation under control and manage a strong pace in the long runs. "Qualifying performance has become less important with these new cars, because you can overtake well if you go hard in the race. I'm curious, I find it difficult to estimate exactly where they [Aston Martin] are. When I look at Fernando's face when I talk to him, he is pretty optimistic though. That's nice to see though because in the end you want more teams to get closer together."