De Vries does himself a good favour: 'At the moment we don’t do anything'

Nyck de Vries responded as a true sportsman does. No big words, about being happy and having proven himself in Monaco. The AlphaTauri driver was mostly modest. He spoke of 'a solid race', was 'satisfied' with his weekend and had made 'no major mistakes in tricky conditions'. This performance in Monaco had taken some pressure off though, that much was clear.

In recent weeks the stories arose, about an ultimatum to De Vries. How he had to perform at Imola (cancelled), Monaco and Barcelona. Should the Formula 1 rookie not perform better, his seat at Red Bull Racing's sister team was in jeopardy, it was said. In fact, names of possible successors were already being mentioned. Although Franz Tost (AlphaTauri team boss) and Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing advisor, immediately reported that no ultimatum had been given to the Dutchman, the message was clear: De Vries did need to perform better.

Monaco already came calling

The weekend in Monaco therefore came at just the right time. Not that De Vries came close to the points, or was able to beat teammate Yuki Tsunoda at speed. It was, however, a first sign that De Vries is slowly starting to find his feet. No doubt a factor was that the Monaco circuit was no stranger to him. De Vries had already driven there in Formula 2 and with Formula E. Of course, a Formula 1 car is different. But learning fully where the track's limits were first, like in a Melbourne or Miami, he no longer needed to.

His 12th place on the grid was proof towards all critics that De Vries has enough speed to have earned his place in F1. That the former FE champion did not take any points was unfortunate, but understandable. Like Tsunoda, De Vries also had problems - albeit to a slightly lesser extent - with his brakes. Especially in Monaco, with the crash barrier always nearby, this could have caused serious problems. Yet the Dutchman managed to drive around all these problems, as it is called in technical jargon.

'Take positives to Spain'

"It was encouraging to see that we were so close to the top 10, and we worked well as a team throughout the weekend to put the cars where they were on the grid, so we’ll take those positives to Barcelona," De Vries said afterwards. He can travel to Spain with a good feeling, where the next Grand Prix is already scheduled next weekend.

The Circuit de Catalunya would host the third part of his 'exam'. Judging by Marko's words, De Vries does not seem to have to worry (for now). The Austrian indicated he was satisfied with De Vries' performance in Monaco. "When we have to act, then we will act. At the moment we don’t do anything," Marko said.