“He never drove a super lap,” Helmut Marko shares the harsh reasoning behind Nyck De Vries losing his seat to Daniel Ricciardo 

Dr Helmut Marko explains why Nyck De Vries, lost his seat after just a few races in the 2023 F1 season.

“He never drove a super lap,” Helmut Marko shares the harsh reasoning behind Nyck De Vries losing his seat to Daniel Ricciardo 

Helmut Marko and Nyck De Vries

Nyck De Vries’s previous role in Formula 1 used to be that of a reserve driver. While a seat was not guaranteed, all he had to do was wait. During the Italian GP, De Vries got the chance to replace ‘bedridden’ Alex Albon to compete with Williams for one race. After his impressive points finish at Monza, he suddenly came under the spotlight of every single team. Ultimately, it was Red Bull who were able to sign him. 

Ever since then, Nyck’s career has taken an ugly turn. The Dutchman was not able to give his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda a run for his money. Apart from that, disappointing performances in qualifying and the race further went on to weaken his confidence. Helmut Marko had stated before that he wasn’t sure whether Nyck would be the perfect fit at Red Bull. Which is why, the Dutchman is out of his seat just 10 races in.

Helmut Marko talked about why Nyck De Vries wasn’t treated like a rookie in an interview. “He is 28 years old, has a lot of experience and has also been able to gain a lot of knowledge as a test driver in various Formula 1 cars. You can’t compare him to a young rookie in my eyes,” he said. “At the end of April in Baku, he started the weekend well and I thought he would perform better, but then he crashed again. Unfortunately, he never drove a super lap that surprised us,” he continued. 

Related: Helmut Marko asks Sergio Perez to ‘forget the World Championship dream’ amidst uncertainty over the Mexican’s Red Bull future

Daniel Ricciardo will have a huge responsibility having replaced Nyck De Vries

Daniel Ricciardo and Nyck De Vries
Daniel Ricciardo and Nyck De Vries

Daniel Ricciardo was on schedule to test the RB-19 at Silverstone with Pirelli. Before the test, he was notified that his performance in the test could result in him getting a seat with AlphaTauri. Even with this pressure looming over his head, the Honey Badger was able to push through and set a time that was worthy enough to put him P2 on the gird for the British GP. Albeit there were diff conditions during that time.

After the shocking news of the swap, Nyck De Vries was spotted with Toto Wolff in a cafe in Monaco. It seems pretty clear that in the end, Nyck would somehow still be a part of the paddock. However, the chances of him getting a F1 seat are looking very bleak. It will be interesting to see where the Dutchman will move on to. With his recent meeting with Toto, the answer seems pretty obvious. 

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