Damon Hill believes that Nyck de Vries is facing a "typical routine" from the Red Bull stable amid speculation over his future in F1. Rumours emerged after the Miami Grand Prix that de Vries' seat at AlphaTauri could be under threat, with some reports suggesting that Daniel Ricciardo could be in the frame to replace him should his performance not improve . While this idea was denied by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, the Austrian did state that de Vries is on a "yellow card" and "needs to improve" in order to pose more of a challenge to teammate Yuki Tsunoda. With Red Bull having made driver changes mid-season in the past, Hill has been reflecting on whether Marko's "tough" approach yields results.
Hill on Marko
"[Marko is] a tough teacher, isn't he?" Hill told the F1 Nation podcast. "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. "If you did that to Max [Verstappen], 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, [given] 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?"
Drivers face 'intense scrutiny'
With drivers now facing additional scrutiny from social media and Netflix series Drive to Survive , Hill believes that there is an increased pressure on those competing in F1 these days. "The scrutiny is intense, much more intense perhaps than it ever was," the 1996 World Champion added. "[In the past], people could drive for Minardi and people would go, 'Oh, yeah, whatever, where did they finish? Usual place, we don't care'. "Now, it's the intense scrutiny – everyone's following on Instagram or social media or wherever it is, Netflix and on Sky, of course. "We are going through everyone's career with forensic detail, and it's much harder, I think, from that point of view, for drivers. "Once you get to the sharp end, things happen to your head that didn't happen before. Because it's a whole new world of being in the spotlight, in the red heat of the scrutiny of the media."
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