Red Bull motorsport advisor, Helmut Marko, has acknowledged that Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull’s main Formula 1 outfit, initially had reservations about signing Nyck de Vries for the AlphaTauri team.
Despite impressing in his Formula 1 debut at Monza last year, de Vries has struggled this season, playing second fiddle to teammate Yuki Tsunoda and making notable errors, including a recent botched overtaking attempt at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Speculation arose that de Vries was under pressure to improve following the Miami Grand Prix, and Marko’s comments during an interview with the Inside Line F1 Podcast further highlight the mounting public scrutiny.
While Marko occasionally disagrees with Horner on driver signings, he pointed to de Vries as a recent example where Horner’s skepticism appears to have been justified based on the driver’s performance.