Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko has brutally admitted that Nyck de Vries was sacked for being “constantly three-tenths slower” than AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, something the side couldn’t accept.
AlphaTauri have replaced the rookie with eight-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo after just 10 races.
De Vries has certainly struggled to adjust to Formula 1; however, there were signs in recent races that he was starting to improve.
With him being 28 years old though, Marko seemingly wasn’t prepared to wait, especially as the Austrian didn’t view the Dutch driver as a rookie.
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Marko insisted that because of his previous experience as an F1 reserve driver, De Vries couldn’t be “considered a rookie”.
The advisor was therefore judging De Vries as if he was an F1 regular, resulting in his departure.
“Why wait?” Marko brutally said in regard to sacking the driver, whilst talking to De Telegraaf.
“We signed Nick because he did a great job at Monza last year. We expected that this year he would at least perform at the level of Yuki Tsunoda, but this did not happen.
“In fact, he was constantly three-tenths slower and we didn’t see any progress. He is already 28, he has a lot of experience and knowledge that he gained by driving the cars of different Formula One teams as a test driver. In my opinion, Nyck cannot be considered a rookie.”
Following his embarrassing exit, Marko expects De Vries’ F1 career to be over.
The Austrian expects it to be “difficult” for the Dutch driver to find another seat at the pinnacle of motorsport, with Marko believing that he should try to “build a successful career in endurance racing”.
“I think it will be difficult for him to find another place in Formula One. At the same time, I believe that he knew where everything was going.
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“I think he can build a successful career in endurance racing.”
A switch to endurance racing has been labelled as a possibility, as has a return to Formula E in 2024.
Prior to being signed by AlphaTauri, De Vries was set to race for Maserati in the all-electric series, a team who could be interested in signing the Dutchman again following his early departure from F1.