Marko reveals BRUTAL reason behind De Vries sacking

Helmut Marko has explained the rationale behind letting Nyck de Vries go after just ten races, claiming that the Dutchman was a "very nice guy", but didn't show the pace needed to keep him in F1.

De Vries was drafted into the AlphaTauri setup ahead of the 2023 season off the back of an impressive substitute performance for Williams at Monza.

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Despite scoring points on his F1 debut at Monza last season, De Vries leaves AlphaTauri having failed to score any points for the team.

The 28-year-old's early dismissal has resulted in an unexpected F1 return for Daniel Ricciardo, who was set to take a year out after leaving McLaren in 2022.

No De Vries regret for Marko

"We expected him to be at least equivalent to his teammate Yuki Tsunoda this year, but that was not the case," Marko told De Telegraaf after De Vries' dismissal.

"In fact, he was always three-tenths of a second slower. We saw no improvement."

The head of the Red Bull driver development program then explained that his crash in Baku was a pivotal point in deciding his future with the team.

"You can't compare him to a young rookie in my eyes. At the end of April in Baku, he started the weekend well and I thought he would perform better, but then he crashed again.

"Unfortunately, he never drove a super lap that surprised us.

“We had to do something, Marko continued.

"Why should we wait and what does two extra races matter if you don't see any improvement?

"Nyck is a very nice guy, but the speed just wasn't there."

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