Two Netherlands compared
During the 2023 season, Formula 1 experienced two all-Dutch entities that provided opposite performances. On the one hand there was the historic and now well-known domination of Max Verstappen, who for 'only' three races failed to achieve 100% of the victories in the last world championship. On the other hand, on the contrary, there was the brief and unsuccessful stay of Nyck de Vries In the Circusdespite the Formula E world champion having been indicated at the end of 2022 as 'the market man' after a more than positive debut in Monza in 2022, when he finished in ninth position with Williams.
Results below expectations
Hired byAlphaTauri to replace the departing 28-year-old Gasly he missed no point in the first half of the championship, obtaining a 12th place in Monaco as the best result of the season and coming in turn replaced by Ricciardo after just 10 races dispute. Performances which therefore did not convince the upper levels of Red Bull, and above all the Councillor Helmut Markowho did not hesitate to send De Vries away, replicating an action already carried out to the detriment of other AlphaTauri or Red Bull drivers.
Marko's pressure
In the following months there was no shortage of stances taken in favor of De Vries, starting with one of his compatriots such as Giedo van der Garde, who boasts a brief past in F1 in 2013 with Caterham. In an interview reported by racingnews365.comthe winner of the 2016 European Le Mans Series understood the difficulties encountered by the future Toyota driver in the WEC, both on the track and in his relationship with Marko: “We must not forget the AlphaTauri at the beginning of the season, which not even Tsunoda was able to manageand – he underlined – Nyck was struggling and under pressure after a few races. We know how difficult it is when Marko yells every weekend telling you that you have to be betterwhich you must be fasterthat you have to be in front of Tsunoda because you should be the leader of the team. Then, at a certain point, you break“.
More calmly…
According to Van der Garde, therefore, the yardstick of judgment towards De Vries was too severe: “Of course, it's not normal to think that when you're new to Formula 1 you can attract a team like that in one fell swoop. – he added – ci take half to three quarters of a year. Everyone thought that after that one race with Williams (Monza 2022) he would have shown off, but that's not how it works. So it's a real shame that he wasn't given more time, also because he's a guy who sometimes he needs a little extra time to show what he really has up his sleeve and I know how good he is and especially how much he works“. For Van der Garde, who was De Vries' teammate in Racing Team Nederlands in the WEC (LMP2), the Dutchman could have contributed to the team's comeback in the second part of the world championship: “I think so. She would have had a better pace at that time and maybe even Helmut Marko would have been a little calmer and more relaxed, because there were still points up for grabs. When the team is calmer, you automatically start to perform better. You become more in tune with the machine. So I think what those guys demonstrated, Nyck could have demonstrated it too“.
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