De Vries missed out on Q2 through no fault of his own: "I am positively disappointed"

Nyck de Vries did not progress beyond Q1 in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Dutchman was quick to take the blame for that, but in hindsight he reconsiders.

De Vries stranded in Q1 through no fault of his own

Having missed the third free practice because AlphaTauri had to change its engine, De Vries did not start qualifying in ideal fashion. His first run ended in a spin, but he could not make a move in his second run either. Initially, he reported over the board radio that he had made a mistake in the last corner, but in retrospect he reconsidered.

"I took responsibility very quickly, but it wasn't actually down to the last corner. The battery was not fully charged and therefore I lost two-and-a-half-tenths and another half-tenth on the last stretch. I didn't think my corner was very good so I took responsibility, but in the end, it was the battery," De Vries explained in conversation with Viaplay.

With that, however, the AlphaTauri driver does not want to put the blame on someone else. "We have to see what the reason is why the battery wasn't fully charged, but I don't want to use it as an excuse or anything. I felt the potential was there to go through to Q2," he continued.

That his first run didn't go well had everything to do with the fact that he missed out on FP3 and therefore the car felt different. "You have new brakes, suddenly more bite and then you lock the wheels and lose the first run. It was just messy. I think it's a shame because I think we were just strong enough to go into Q2," De Vries concluded. "I'm positively disappointed today because I felt it was in it."