Guido van der Garde thinks that Nyck de Vries was ousted far too early
10 Grand Prix and then goes away, this is the career of Nyck de Vries with AlphaTauri. The Dutchman was not in the rhythm of his teammate and did not prove his worth in the eyes of Helmut Marko. However, his compatriot Guido van der Garde thinks that the former Formula E champion did not have enough time to raise his level.
F2 Champion in 2019, Nyck de Vries thought he would never be able to race in F1. Last season, the Dutchman benefited from the absence of Alexander Albon, who was suffering from appendicitis, to start the Italian Grand Prix and score two points with Williams.
Thanks to this performance, as well as numerous FP1 rollouts with Williams, Aston Martin, and Mercedes, the 2021 Formula E champion was able to secure a main seat at AlphaTauri for the 2023 season, replacing Pierre Gasly, who went to Alpine.
But for his first and only full season in F1, de Vries is not able to perform well. Admittedly, the AlphaTauri was bad in the first half of the season, however, the Dutchman was not keeping up with his teammate’s pace. He didn’t score any points, when Tsunoda scored three. And he made mistakes like his two crashes in Baku, during Q1 and on the tenth lap of the race.
After ten Grand Prix, the patience of the leaders of the Red Bull group is exhausted and Helmut Marko, who had publicly criticized him, replaces De Vries with Daniel Ricciardo, just before the Hungarian Grand Prix.
« It is extremely regrettable that he was not given more time »
AlphaTauri managed to finish the season in eighth place in the constructor’s standings. Tsunoda scored 14 more points than in the first half of the season, Ricciardo secured six units at the Mexican Grand Prix, and Liam Lawson scored two points in Singapore. While the results have vindicated the driver change at AlphaTauri, Guido van der Garde believes that Nyck de Vries could have improved in the second half of the season.
« On paper, you can say that it was the right decision. But that’s not entirely correct. After all, don’t forget that the AlphaTauri was completely jerky at the start of the season and Yuki Tsunoda couldn’t stand it either », declares van der Garde.
« Nyck was in trouble and under immense pressure after just a few races. We know how hard it is when Helmut Marko yells every weekend that it must be better, that it must be faster, that you need to be ahead of Tsunoda, because he is supposed to be the team leader. Then you crack at a certain point », continues the former F1 driver.
« Of course, it is not normal to think that when you are new to Formula 1, you can attract such a team at once. It takes six months to three-quarters of a year. But everyone thought after this race in the Williams that he would show it, but it does not work like that. So, it is extremely regrettable that he was not given more time », laments the Dutchman.
« He is also a boy who sometimes needs a little more time to show what he really has up his sleeve and I know how good he is and especially how dedicated he is. He would have been better in his rhythm at that time and maybe Helmut Marko would have been a little calmer and more relaxed at that time too, because there were points on the scoreboard anyway », concludes van der Garde.
