Red Bull boss vetoes Daniel Ricciardo return with strong demand to Helmut Marko

AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost has stressed Nyck de Vries needs a “minimum of three years” in F1 after Red Bull’s Helmut Marko threatened to end the Dutchman’s F1 career. De Vries has struggled this season and is one of two drivers who have failed to scored a point all season.

According to Motorsport.com, Marko has given De Vries just three races to save his seat or he will face the axe. This gives the former Formula E star until the Monaco Grand Prix to pick up momentum against team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

Daniel Ricciardo would be expected to take his seat at Red Bull’s junior team just months after signing as a reserve driver. However, Tost has called out Marko’s decision as he stressed De Vries needed more time behind the wheel.

He reminded Marko that even the team’s most successful drivers such as Sebastian Vettel needed time to establish themselves in the sport. Tost explained: “Yuki is doing a really good job. You can see his learning curve is going up very good, I must say.

“And Nyck, as I always say, if a rookie is coming to Formula One, he needs minimum three years to understand what’s going on here. It’s as I always say [it’s] the learning process and the ‘crash period’ because if the drivers don’t crash, they don’t know the limit. This is a credit you must give them, otherwise it doesn’t work.

“There was no driver not crashing. I remember back to Sebastian, maybe in the first races came back in the first lap, most often without the front nose. It’s part of the game.” De Vries was handed a chance at AlphaTauri after impressing on his F1 debut at Williams last season.

The Dutch star secured points in his first ever F1 start after standing in for Alex Albon. Days later he held talks with Marko over replacing Pierre Gasly and the move was completed with the help of Max Verstappen.

But expectations were set high due to De Vries’ vast experience as a reserve driver. The Austrian Red Bull chief expected De Vries to instantly impress and even outscore his team-mate in his first year.

Speaking last October, Marko commented: “Yuki is young and doesn’t have this experience and background, so [Nyck] should lead the team. We will see how it goes next year, but from the experience and the personality he has, he should be the team leader.”