Pressure's on De Vries to fire up his F1 season as returning Red Bull driver waits in the wings

When racing for the Red Bull Formula 1 team, drivers are often exposed to immense criticism and an eagle eye overlooking their performances. This is not just for the A-team, but also AlphaTauri and the teams in the lower categories.

One driver experiencing this harsh culture first-hand is Dutchman Nyck de Vries, who, at 28 years old, made his full-time F1 debut at the start of the 2023 season with AlphaTauri.

De Vries, replacing Pierre Gasly, was seen as the driver to continue with the consistent performances left by Gasly. With his vast experiences and championship-winning pedigree, he was regarded as the one to lead the team as current driver Yuki Tsunoda was to become his understudy.

However, the predictions did not play out the way everyone thought they would, and De Vries already has pressure on him to perform. And with Helmut Marko managing the drivers in the Red Bull pool, we know how ruthless he can be in cutting someone out - regardless of a contract.

Has De Vries really been that bad?

When De Vries made his F1 debut at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix, he stood in for the ill Alex Albon at Williams. The Williams F1 car was not the quickest and definitely off the pace, but it had good top-end speeds. For De Vries, there was no pressure to score points, as just finishing the race would have been seen as a success.

But he did score points, crossing the finish line in ninth place. De Vries suddenly became the most sought-after driver for teams needing to complete their 2023 driver line-ups, with Marko securing his signature for a racing seat at AlphaTauri.

But 2023 is not going to plan. Over the season's opening five races, he has finished outside of the points in all of them, with the races in Australia and Azerbaijan