Horner doubles down on De Vries axe after disagreeing with Red Bull boss
Christian Horner has insisted that axing Nyck De Vries from his Alpha Tauri seat was the right decision.
De Vries was given just 10 races to prove himself in his rookie season, but failed to score a point in any of those outings. That led to Horner and fellow Red Bull chief Helmut Marko making the decision to replace the Dutchman with Daniel Ricciardo for the rest of the year.
Red Bull team principal Horner had long held reservations about bringing De Vries in to be Yuki Tsunoda's team-mate at the junior team. And the Englishman has doubled down on his stance that De Vries simply was not up to scratch.
“It was becoming obviously a difficult situation for Nyck De Vries. But there was a high expectation on him because, whilst inexperienced in Formula 1, he's obviously a very experienced driver," Horner told the F1 Nation podcast.
“I think there was a general feeling that Nyck wasn't quite hitting the mark. And then the question was, you know, what are the options if we were to switch things around? And from a Red Bull Racing perspective, the most interesting option for me was to see how Daniel performs.
Inside De Vries' long road to F1 including pressure after Hamilton example set
"So that was the decision that was made. It all happened pretty quick and here he is for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Helmut spoke with Nyck and, you know, he was the one that obviously had recruited him. He was the one that spoke with Nyck about lap 11 of the test, I think.”
HAVE YOUR SAY! Did Nyck de Vries deserve to be ditched by Alpha Tauri? Comment below.
Nyck de Vries was dumped from his seat after just 10 races (HOCH ZWEI/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)There were some suggestions that De Vries could have stayed on until his home race at Zandvoort in August. But Horner has discounted that from ever being discussed among bosses at the team.
“I think it’s very difficult. That would have meant obviously leaving him in the car until after the summer break," he added. “I think the situation was clear. It was a question of, okay, what's the point in waiting?
“If we've got to do something, we might as well get on with it and give Daniel 12 races to see what he's capable of.”
Horner and Marko have been criticised for their decision to ditch De Vries. The most scathing came from Sebastian Vettel, who bagged the junior team's first-ever win when it was Torro Rooso, before going on to win four championships at Red Bull.
"It's obviously a shame for Nyck, the way it comes to an end. I think he was given a great chance. Maybe things didn't happen for him the way he expected, or people expected. But it's also a bit harsh when it comes to a very sudden stop like that. It's brutal," he said
“He won the F2 championship, he won international championships. So he's well recognised and I hope that this sort of dent doesn't give a dent to his career. People tend to do that, and that's not right. So I have to also sympathise with the fact it's very harsh for him.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
