Max Verstappen revealed how he helped fellow Dutch racer Nyck de Vries land a drive at Red Bull’s junior team next season.
AlphaTauri confirmed today that De Vries will be part of their 2023 driver line-up. He impressed the team with his one-off performance for Williams as a substitute in the Italian Grand Prix.“I knew this already coming here,” said Verstappen after today’s qualifying session. “But of course this is incredible for him. He’s been pushing hard for it for a long time and to finally get that opportunity is amazing for him.”
Verstappen revealed he encouraged De Vries to contact Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko about a drive following his impressive showing at Monza. Marko would be in a good mood following Verstappen’s victory in the race, he told De Vries.
“I think after Monza there was no real discussion anymore,” said Verstappen. “Helmut is the guy who when he likes something he is daring enough to then put him in the car, whereas maybe other teams are a bit more careful.
“That’s great news. We are good friends as well, we had a dinner the day after Monza and I told him ‘just give him a call, you never know what happens’. And it was also the right time to call him, Helmut is still probably excited on a Monday from the race on a Sunday. So it worked out really well and I’m very happy for him.”
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Mayrton
8th October 2022, 12:54
Would have been nice to pair him with George at Mercedes for 2023. Not sure their loyalty to Lewis will pay off for them. I am sure though AlphaTauri will enjoy having him around and vs Gasly I expect he will deliver better and more consistent.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th October 2022, 13:20
It is Tsunoda, it was always going to be Tsunoda, we already knew that. Nyck got Latifi, easy pickings now he gets Tsunoda again easy pickings.
dot_com (@dot_com)
8th October 2022, 13:45
Agreed. It’s the perfect place for DeVries, he should be able to get on par with Tsunoda pretty quickly.
Emma
8th October 2022, 13:58
Man, your obsession with Mercedes and Lewis is quite something.
anon
8th October 2022, 22:38
Emma, what do you expect? He’s the wrong nationality and the wrong ethnicity for Maryton to tolerate, so it’s unsurprising that he hates him with such venom.
Craig
8th October 2022, 13:50
I think De Vries still did the real leg work to prove he was worth of F1. It was without a shadow of doubt he’d be on the grid next year after Monza, it was just a matter of who with. It’s just a shame it took this long as his F2 career was nothing to sniff at while his FE career has been extremely impressive.
If this does anything it continues to show how pointless the Red Bull Junior program is now as it’s not only rare to stay in it long enough to have a shot at F1, it’s rarer still to actually progress from it as they keep sourcing their F1 drivers from elsewhere.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
8th October 2022, 14:17
Is it though?
Let’s look at the current F1 grid and eliminate everyone that didn’t work for Red Bull, that means we are left with, in championship order: Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Ricciardo, Vettel, Gasly, Tsunoda, Albon, and since today: De Vries.
That’s a lot of the current crop, even if we eliminate De Vries and Perez because they didn’t come in as juniors. Just because none of the current junior drivers are ready for promotion yet doesn’t mean the program is pointless.
55
8th October 2022, 15:55
The junior program, which is referred as pointless, starts before F1. Vettel and Verstappen joined with Red Bull when they joined F1. Saying that RB junior program helped them to F1 is incorrect as they were picked up elsewhere.
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
8th October 2022, 18:57
IThere are quite a few “arm chair quarterbacks” out there willing to trash the Red Bull junior program. Some abuse is justified, yes, but comparing the effort and financial commitment that Red Bull puts into it, to what the other teams do, no contest.
No other group, mfg. or otherwise, runs their own active F1 – B Team in support of the A Team. Who else has made the tough choices to swap drivers in or out mid-season.? And even given some drivers lifelines and second chances. Tough on the ones going out but incredible opportunities for those dropping in.
Almost half the current F1 grid have Red Bull driving suits sitting their closets. I just wish there was one in mine.
nickthegreek (@nickthegreek)
8th October 2022, 15:43
Verstappen, Ricciardo & Vettel were not part of their academy though
Zink
8th October 2022, 16:31
Ver:”Pssss, Helmut. Yeah, I got a guy his name is Nyck and he even got a super license“.
Mar:”Super license you say, DEAL!”
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th October 2022, 20:49
Interesting article about verstappen suggesting to contact marko, I agree he’s one who takes risks when a driver looks promising, then it’s up to the driver to deliver.
José Lopes da Silva
9th October 2022, 9:24
Which other team would have give an opportunity to Brendon Hartley?