Christian Horner was "not a fan" of bringing in Nyck de Vries to AlphaTauri, according to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko. The Red Bull Team Principal disagreed with the Austrian when he proposed putting him in to the sister team to replace the outgoing Pierre Gasly, after he impressed on his F1 debut at Monza last year. When asked if he regularly disagrees with Horner on driver appointments, Marko told the Inside Line F1 podcast: "Not often, but sometimes we do. The last one... I would say de Vries. "Basically it's AlphaTauri, but we're a big family and we get opinions. He [Horner] was not a fan of De Vries." De Vries is one of two drivers yet to score points in the 2023 season, following a difficult start with AlphaTauri. The Dutchman has recently come under pressure from the team to improve his performance, with himself admitting that he has "made too many mistakes" in the early stages of his rookie season. Marko also confessed that his results have not met expectations so far: "I would say at the moment it looks like he's [Horner] right."
Marko: Tost wanted Schumacher
Originally the outgoing AlphaTauri Team Principal, Franz Tost, wanted Mick Schumacher to replace Gasly. At the time Schumacher was still contracted to the Ferrari Driver Academy, which conflicted with Red Bull's own Junior Team programme, according to Marko. "[It was] Franz Tost who wanted Mick Schumacher, but Mick was with Ferrari Academy for his whole career," he explained. While de Vries was already an FIA World Champion having won the 2020/21 Formula E title, Marko explains that his lack of F1 experience was more of a factor in choosing him to race at AlphaTauri. He added: "Basically, AlphaTauri is a junior team. De Vries is different to Schumacher in that he had just one race, very successful in Monza, so he could fit into our philosophy."
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