“He needs to step up a gear,” Helmut Marko shoots a stern warning to Nyck De Vries after timid Bahrain outing
Helmut Marko wants Nyck De Vries to improve his performances after a tough outing in Bahrain.
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Helmut and Nyck
Nyck De Vries, the AlphaTauri driver, has been warned by Helmut Marko to improve his performance in the upcoming F1 races. As per the veteran, the Dutchman’s outing at the Bahrain International Circuit was not up to the mark. De Vries was quite slow in terms of pace in comparison to Yuki Tsunoda.
Tsunoda outperformed De Vries during qualifying by a decent margin and ended his race in P11. However, De Vries, on the other hand, started the Bahrain GP from P19 and could only climb up to P15. These are worrying signs for the former Mercedes reserve driver. The hierarchy at AlphaTauri is expecting strong performances from him this season.
Helmut Marko was not too impressed with De Vries’s performance in Bahrain, and while talking about it to Formel.de he added, “Nyck has a wealth of experience, even though he is still officially a rookie. He was closely involved with Mercedes, driving as a third driver or reserve driver in almost all their F1 cars and those of the customer teams. He has vast knowledge, but this is AlphaTauri and not Mercedes. In terms of budget and manpower, it is not comparable.“
“There were definitely positive things, but by now he also realizes that this is a different team. The idea now is for him to focus on his own performance. In sectors one and three he drove similarly to Yuki, but in sector two he lost too much, also in the race. He needs to step up a gear.”
Helmut Marko has indirectly indicated to Nyck De Vries that he needs to get his act sorted if he wishes to stay at AlphaTauri next year. Moreover, he has also made it known that AlphaTauri does not have the kind of manpower and arsenal De Vries is used to having from his Mercedes days.
Helmut Marko expects strong performances from Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck De Vries
While Helmut Marko has come up with a stern warning for De Vries, Yuki Tsunoda is also not guaranteed his place on the Red Bull sister team after the end of the current campaign. While talking about it, Marko added, “It applies to both AlphaTauri drivers that they have to prove they belong in F1. The best one probably also has the greatest chance of staying in F1, that goes for both Yuki and De Vries. But please, only one race has been driven yet. We shouldn’t want to know everything already for the future either. Give him [De Vries] a chance. His way of working is fine, as is his approach. But what I said: he has to start delivering now.”
Yuki Tsunoda has been with the team for a few years, whereas Nyck De Vries is in his first year with the team. Marko wants De Vries to deliver but also understands that he would need some time to settle into his new surroundings. However, despite this fact, the 79-year-old wants the Dutchman to start putting in strong performances as soon as possible. The 2023 F1 season is one race down, and there are still 22 races left to go. Considering this fact, would the AlphaTauri duo be able to impress Helmut Marko enough to let them stay in F1 beyond the end of the current campaign?
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)