De Vries Could Have Done As Well Others Without Pressure From Marko Says Van Der Garde

Sunday, 31 December 2023 at 23:00

Dutch former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde suggested Nyck De Vries could have done better in AlphaTauri if given more time.

Nyck De Vries got his seat in AlphaTauri as a replacement for Pierre Gasly, who left the Red Bull family to compete for the only French F1 team - Alpine.

However, the Dutchman didn't last long in the ruthless sport of Formula One and got replaced by Daniel Ricciardo after just ten races of the 2023 season.

During his ten-race-stay at AlphaTauri, de Vries didn't score a single point, while all three other drivers that sat in AlphaTauri later did. Giedo van der Garde told RacingNews365:

"Nyck was struggling and was under mega pressure after just a few races. We know how difficult it is when Helmut Marko yells every weekend that it has to be better, that it has to be faster, that you have to be ahead of Tsunoda, because you are supposed to be the team leader. Then you snap at some point."

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The Dutchman showed his qualities as he won the Formula E championship, but the main performance that persuaded Red Bull to put him into the seat of AlphaTauri was his 2022 Italian Grand Prix performance.

The 28-year-old hoped to replace Alex Albon in the seat of Williams for just one race, and he instantly scored the best result of the season for the team.

It might have been the combination of too high expectations from the Dutchman and the little patience that Red Bull management has with new drivers that made Helmut Marko replace de Vries. Still, van der Garde suggested it takes longer for drivers to adapt to F1.

"Of course, it's not normal to think that when you're new to Formula 1 you can attract such a team to you in one go. That takes half a year to three-quarters of a year."

AlphaTauri team achieved most of its points towards the end of the season. When asked whether the Dutchman could have contributed if the team kept him longer, van der Garde added:

"I think so, yes. He would have been better in his rhythm by that time and maybe Helmut Marko would have been a bit calmer and more relaxed by that time as well, because there were some points on the scoreboard anyway."