Russell in de garage op Silverstone — Photo: © LAT Images

Red Bull

Russell CRITICAL of Red Bull's treatment of F1 driver

He's not happy with how they've treated one of their drivers

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 30 August 2023 13:27

George Russell has said that Nyck de Vries was treated unfairly by Helmut Marko and the Red Bull team.

De Vries was kicked out of his AlphaTauri team (owned by Red Bull) having not scored a point in the first ten races of the season.

He was replaced by the highly experienced Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who has now himself had to pull out of the next couple of races after hurting his wrist in a crash in FP2 at the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend.

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Despite this, AlphaTauri have opted to bring Liam Lawson into the team, rather than going back to give De Vries another try.

Russell has been critical of the way the team have dealt with the De Vries situation.

"He didn't get the opportunity he deserved. You don't expect treatment like that from another team, while we know how the Red Bull works and you have to respect that," Russell told the media after the Dutch GP.

"I didn't follow Nyck closely during his time in AlphaTauri, but I read the reports and the comments by Helmut Marko, and it's a tough place to go if you lack confidence."

De Vries a victim of his own success?

Nyck de Vries won the 2020-21 Formula E world championship with his Mercedes team

Despite being a rookie in F1, De Vries came into Formula 1 at the age of 28 with a Formula 2 world championship and a Formula E world championship title already under his belt.

This led to him joining AlphaTauri with hopes of quickly giving him the lead driver role, despite his younger team-mate Yuki Tsunoda already having two years of experience of driving in F1.

This move raised a few eyebrows, but seemed sensible given the amount of motor racing experience De Vries had, and the team were very confident he could hit the ground running.

Unfortunately, Russell believes this is what, ultimately, led to there being so much pressure upon his shoulders to deliver in a car that clearly wasn't capable of challenging for points week-in, week-out.

"They certainly didn't help him gain confidence at the start of the season by saying he would be the team leader despite being a rookie," he added. "It doesn't matter if you're 27 or 28-year-old, Nyck is a rookie in Formula 1 and you can't tell a rookie he's the leader just because he's raced in more championships than his partner.

"He's been in a difficult position since his arrival, so I feel sorry for him. He's at the level of Formula 1, but he hasn't had the chance to prove it."