Pressure from “opposite” Ricciardo’s F1 arrival triggered errors

For the first 10 rounds of the season, attention at AlphaTauri was biased towards full-time rookie Nyck de Vries and his struggles to step up to F1 as he drew criticism from Red Bull bosses Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.

The FIA Formula 2 and Formula E champion was sacked after Silverstone to be replaced by eight-time grand prix winner Ricciardo. The Australian generated such media interest upon his Hungary return that he reckoned it felt…