Dr Helmut Marko has described signing Nyck de Vries as his "biggest mistake" during his tenure leading Red Bull's Formula 1 driver program.
Several drivers promised much during their time in Red Bull's F1 system, including Scott Speed, Jaime Alguersuari, and Daniil Kvyat, only to fall short of expectations.
However, Marko believes the situation with de Vries was particularly disappointing.
The Dutchman earned a full-time Alpha Tauri seat for the 2023 season after an impressive one-off substitute drive for Williams at Monza in 2022.
However, after just ten races, the 29-year-old was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo.
"My biggest mistake? There's no doubt about it, that's Nyck de Vries," Marko told Italy's Autosprint.
"He did very well on his debut for Williams in Monza," Marko explained. "But once he was at Alpha Tauri, he didn't make any progress.
He had an incredible track record. He was Formula 2 champion and also won the championship in Formula E. But with us, the stopwatch said that Nyck was the wrong choice.
"And in an attempt to go faster, he just made mistakes," Marko concluded.
Following his brief F1 career, de Vries returned to Formula E and also competed in the hypercar class for Toyota in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) last year.
