03/05/2023
NEWS STORY
Nyck de Vries: "The best thing you can do after a weekend like the one I had in Baku is to get straight back in the car and, fortunately, that's exactly what I can do with this second part of the back-to-back. It's fair to say I had a bit of bad luck, and also what happened in the race last Sunday was purely my fault. It was a difficult weekend, not just for me, but mainly for the mechanics, as I gave them a lot more work to do. I'm sorry for that and I really appreciate how hard they worked to get my car back on track. The good news is that the team clearly did a very good job of improving the car between Melbourne and Baku and Miami will be a chance to make the most of that, while also learning more about the car and developing it further.
"I have been to the Miami track before. I was there last year, mainly doing show runs on Ocean Drive, which was a very unique experience. It's a really cool thing that I can say I did 180 degree spins there in a Formula 1 car. I had a good time and it's great that the US is gathering so much momentum for Formula 1. Miami is an attractive venue and I'm looking forward to racing there. It's going to be a tough race as it gets pretty hot there in the daytime. I'll take it a step at a time.
From the work I've done on the simulator I can see there are some tricky sections on the track, like the sector under the bridge, while the very slow twisty section is quite awkward for the current Formula 1 cars that are so big."
Yuki Tsunoda: "It was a bit of an untidy time in Baku, but I've come to Miami with a very positive mindset as there were many signs that we are making real progress with the car and the updates that came out of Bicester, especially those aimed at improving our top speed, really seemed to work. The highpoint in Azerbaijan was qualifying eighth, so scoring a point for tenth was good, but I'd hoped for better. Also, I was pleased with my own performance in terms of how I was driving and how I handled the various situations of the very busy Sprint weekend format.
"I made it to Q3 in Miami last year and I liked the track. The atmosphere there is definitely special, and the American fans are very enthusiastic. My memories of that week are that it is very hot and the humidity was quite high, which made the race quite demanding physically. Last year, I hadn't expected that, but I will be prepared this time. I did a lot of Miami work in the simulator and it has some sections similar to Baku, so I hope we can be on the pace and keep making progress with the car."