Helmut Marko comments on the decision to refuse Nick de Vries’ services and invites Daniel Riccardo to take his place. According to Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, the Dutch driver has not only been inferior to teammate Yuki Tsunoda all season, but he is also not making progress.
Helmut Marko: “We hired Nick because he did a great job at Monza last year. We expected him to at least perform at partner Yuki Tsunoda’s level this year, but that didn’t happen. In fact, Nick was constantly three-tenths slower and we saw no progress.
He is already 28 years old, he has a lot of experience and knowledge gained by driving the cars of different Formula 1 teams as a test driver. In my opinion, it cannot be considered a debutant.
In Baku at the end of April, Nick had a great start to the weekend and I thought he was getting better, but then he crashed the car again. Unfortunately he didn’t do any supercircle, which would have made a strong impression on us.
In such a situation, we had to do something. Why did we have to wait until the summer holidays? What would two races change if we didn’t see any improvements anyway? Nick is a really nice guy, but he just didn’t have the speed.
I think it will be difficult for him to find another place in Formula 1. At the same time, I believe he knew where everything was going. I think he can build a successful career in endurance racing.”
Commenting on Daniel Ricciardo’s tire testing, Marco said: “He set competitive times on three different tyres. If Riccardo didn’t have speed, we’d find someone else.
The AlphaTauri is in last place in the Constructors’ Championship, so something had to be done. Ricciardo will bring new energy to the team.”
At the same time, Marco made it clear that it is still too early for the Australian driver to think about the prospect of replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing: “Sergio takes second place in the individual standings. What is the point of refusing his services now? At Silverstone he drove a good race, Sergio just needs to improve in qualifying.
First of all we will compare Riccardo with Tsunoda. In my opinion, many underestimate Yuki. The AlphaTauri is not the easiest car to fly, but Yuki has proven that it can perform well.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
