De Vries disappointed: "Then that costs you a bit of confidence"

Nyck de Vries did not progress beyond Q1 during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Despite the fact that as a rookie there are not too high expectations placed on him yet, the Dutchman is not satisfied with the result. Speaking to GPblog and others, he says he hopes for better pace in the race.

De Vries speaks of a pretty good first run, but he had a moment in turn ten. "The first run was good in sector one and sector three, and there I blocked my wheel in turn ten," replies the AlphaTauri driver when GPblog asks if he suffered from balance problems in the second sector.

He continued: "Then that costs you a bit of confidence and then you take a step in the second run. That run was good in itself. On the last run I just couldn't get a good start." As De Vries pointed out earlier, in qualifying everything comes down to the right timing, and of course, that can also turn out wrong.

Asked what AlphaTauri's long runs look like compared to the competition, De Vries cannot yet give an unequivocal answer. "Bit variable," he says of the race pace. "In testing, it looked weaker and yesterday it looked stronger, so time will tell."

De Vries stranded in Q1, driving the slowest time just 0.020 behind fellow rookie Oscar Piastri. The Dutchman will not have to start from the back, however, as Pierre Gasly saw his lap time get deleted due to exceeding track limits. As a result, the Alpine driver will start in 20th place, just behind De Vries.