21 May 2023 , 13:42
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Damon Hill thinks Nyck de Vries is in real danger of losing his place in Formula 1 - and pointed out the "typical routine" when it comes to Red Bull and their drivers.
F1 is a cut-throat sport at the best of times and that is especially true when you're a Red Bull employee. The brand has rarely shied away from making some tough calls in the ruthless pursuit of success.
After all, that's how Max Verstappen got his seat with the top team – called up from Toro Rosso with Daniil Kvyat not performing in 2016. And, three years later, Pierre Gasly's time with the top team lasted for just 13 races before he and Alex Albon swapped places – the Frenchman heading back to AlphaTauri.
De Vries may well be the latest to fall victim to Red Bull's impatience. He has reportedly been given just three more races by driver development chief Helmut Marko to prove his worth, or the Dutchman could be replaced by one of the army of young racers lying in wait for their F1 chance.
Marko himself has said De Vries has been shown a "yellow card" and told he "needs to improve". Speaking about the Austrian's methods, 1996 world champion Hill admitted such tough love works on some, such as Verstappen – but said it leads to them losing a lot of young drivers.
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He said: "He's a tough teacher, isn't he? He's a tough kind of master for drivers and he always has been. I don't know where it comes from. He was obviously very hard on himself as a racing driver, and some people believe that that is the way to get the best out of racing drivers.
Nyck de Vries has not yet scored a point for AlphaTauri and is under pressure to change that (Getty Images)"If you did that to Max, he responded and he delivered, so there is an argument to say, 'Well, the tough will survive and the weak will have to be discarded'.
"But, the turnover at Red Bull, this is a fairly typical routine, isn't it? They take the driver through halfway through the season, and they go, 'Right, you're out, someone else is in'.
"And they get a chance to find out how the other driver copes, so they actually turn over quite a few drivers that way and get to find out what they're really like, and how else?"