Red Bull’s Helmut Marko says he is confident that Nyck De Vries will bring the experience he has gained racing in other series and thrive in F1.
De Vries sealed a deal with AlphaTauri to replace the departing Pierre Gasly, with the Frenchman set to join Esteban Ocon at Alpine at the end of the 2022 season.
That came on the back of a sterling substitute performance from the Dutchman at Monza, filling in for the ill Alex Albon at Williams where he finished 9th.
Gasly spent six years in total at AlphaTauri and its predecessor Toro Rosso, and had cemented his role as the team’s natural leader given Yuki Tsunoda’s relative inexperience and a series of outperformances, most notably his win at the Italian GP in 2020.
With Gasly leaving, Marko told Motorsport.com that he was confident that De Vries, who at 27 is an older rookie with years of experience in Formula E and World Endurance Championship cars, will step into the role.
“Yuki is young and doesn’t have Nyck’s knowledge and experience in motorsports. We’ll see how he goes next year, but seeing his personality, De Vries has to become the leader of AlphaTauri. Marko said.
“The team is clearly going to benefit from his work in other Formula structures during these years.”
Mercedes knowledge
Marko added that in addition to De Vries experience outside F1, he also had significant insight into the operations of other teams, notably as a reserve driver for Mercedes-powered teams.
“He has been a reserve driver for most of the teams on the grid that are powered by Mercedes and has also worked in different simulators. Now, we are going to get that experience to improve our team,” Marko said.
