Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko has seemingly warned Nyck de Vries once again that he must improve, or be replaced.
De Vries has endured a woeful start to his rookie season in Formula 1, with the Dutchman having struggled to live up to the heights of his debut at last year’s Italian Grand Prix.
It was his performance at Monza last season which effectively got him Pierre Gasly’s vacant AlphaTauri seat, with the 28-year-old having finished ninth after replacing Alex Albon.
De Vries was brought in by Williams ahead of FP3 after Albon was ruled out with appendicitis, putting the former Formula E Champion in a challenging position.
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Despite having jumped into the cockpit at the last-minute, he performed unbelievably well, with him having progressed to Q2 in qualifying.
By backing this up with ninth in the race, De Vries was quickly signed by AlphaTauri for 2023, with Marko having viewed him as someone who could lead the team.
Marko’s hopes have so far fallen short, with De Vries being one of two drivers yet to score a point this season.
If that wasn’t bad enough, De Vries has made several driver errors, most recently at the Miami Grand Prix.
After successfully making it into Q2, De Vries went on to drive into the back of Lando Norris on the opening lap of the race, instantly hampering his chances of a successful Grand Prix.
At the previous race in Azerbaijan, De Vries managed to crash twice, to further add to the pressure he’s already under.
Ahead of the sixth round of the season, De Vries has already been shown the “yellow card” by Marko, with the Dutch driver currently looking set to be replaced mid-season if he fails to improve.
Super Formula championship leader Liam Lawson is the favourite to replace De Vries if he is axed, whilst Formula 2 star Ayumu Iwasa is another option.
Should De Vries improve, though, then all three drivers will remain where they are; however, Marko has warned the AlphaTauri driver that there are options should he fail to progress considerably.
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“To date, [de Vries] has not lived up to the expectations placed in him,” Marko told RacingNews365.com.
“Of course, we talked about it openly with him and now there are routes that he knows.
“So let’s see how he develops and then we will discuss further and possibly decide.”