Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko has astonishingly revealed that team principal Christian Horner wasn’t convinced that sister side AlphaTauri should sign Nyck de Vries, with Marko admitting that the Red Bull boss is currently being proven “right”.
De Vries was signed for 2023 to replace Pierre Gasly, who replaced Fernando Alonso at Alpine.
There was much debate over who would get Gasly’s seat, with IndyCar driver Colton Herta having been the first real contender.
However, he was soon eliminated from the race due to him not having the necessary FIA super licence points, something Red Bull tried to argue with the governing body.
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Mick Schumacher was another name to be considered, with AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost having been keen for the Faenza-based side to sign the German.
It was De Vries who was ultimately chosen though, following his last-minute debut at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.
De Vries was put in Alex Albon’s car from Free Practice 3 onwards at Monza, after the Williams driver was diagnosed with appendicitis.
The Dutch driver certainly made the most of the opportunity, as he progressed to Q2 before finishing ninth in the race.
Marko was impressed by his first performance, which led to AlphaTauri signing the former Formula E Champion.
At 28 years old, De Vries is certainly one of the oldest rookies seen in recent years, something which made Marko believe that he could lead AlphaTauri this season.
Ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, the complete opposite has happened, with De Vries having made several mistakes.
He most notably crashed twice in Azerbaijan and drove into the back of Lando Norris in Miami, whilst he also forced Kevin Magnussen off the track in Canada.
As a result, Marko has shown De Vries a “yellow card”, meaning he must improve quickly.
Should he fail to improve in the coming races then he’ll presumably be dropped, with Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson waiting for an opportunity.
Whilst Horner isn’t in charge of the sister team, his opinion is clearly regarded by Marko.
Marko openly admitted that Horner disagreed with De Vries being signed, whilst the 80-year-old was all for signing him.
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“The last one where I would say, Nyck de Vries. And at the moment it looks like he [Horner] is right,” Marko told the Inside Line F1 podcast, as reported by The Race.
Marko added: “It’s AlphaTauri [not Red Bull], but as we are a big family I would say we are at least getting opinions.
“And he was not so big a fan of Nyck de Vries.”