Critics question decision to fire Dutch F1 driver Nyck de Vries in his first full season
The decision by F1 race team, AlphaTauri, to fire Nyck de Vries has been met with mixed reactions, over the past week. The 28-year-old Dutch driver has been replaced by Daniel Ricciardo with immediate effect, the team announced on Tuesday. Ricciardo was the reserve driver this season for Red Bull, who are the owners of AlphaTauri. De Vries had not picked up a point yet this season as he struggled to keep up with teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko warned De Vries a few weeks ago that results would have to improve. “We expected him to be at least equal to his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, this year, but that wasn't the case," Marko said. "Actually, he was always three-tenths of a second slower. We didn’t see any improvement." After de Vries again did not win a point in the British Grand Prix on Sunday, a race which fellow Dutch driver Max Verstappen won, the decision was made to bring in Ricciardo after he had an impressive showing in Verstappen's RB19 car during testing at Silverstone. The Italian-Australian has plenty of experience in F1, winning eight races and getting to the podium on 32 occasions. The driver will join AlphaTauri on loan from Red Bull and will have his first race for the team on the 23rd of July in the Hungarian Grand Prix. The decision to cut De Vries off so fast was the wrong move, said Dutch race car driver and F1 analyst Tom Coronel. "In my opinion, it’s way too early to make a decision about a driver when you’re not even halfway the season. He had a good race in Silverstone and made progress throughout the season, even with the slowest car on track. He’s not far behind from a teammate who’s having his 3rd year with the team," he wrote on Twitter. "Nyck has won every single race class he participated in: from karting, Formula 2, Formula E, superb performance in several endurance race cars and so on." "Like many sports, F1 is a 'what have you done for me lately' exercise. With just 20 seats to work with, patience is at a premium. Even for a driver of De Vries’ pedigree," wrote columnist Mark Schofield for SB Nation. He said the sudden firing was a "bitter truth about life in F1. It can be pretty cruel." "I do not really think that Nyck was given a fair chance to show his worth," said former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde in an interview with radio station 538. He noted that De Vries was "not spectacular," but said there were several signs of improvement for the rookie driver. "If you look back at it, the amount of time he was given to get used to the car and the progress he made (slowly but surely) it’s - in my opinion - been too soon," he also wrote on Twitter. A comeback is "super difficult," and the decision could be the end of De Vries's young F1 career, Van der Garde told 538. Another pundit disagreed. "He could go back to his old role, as a reserve driver for Mercedes subsidiary team Williams," said JFK magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeroen Jansen. He speculated that the door might remain open for him at Williams in a conversation with Hart van Nederland on Wednesday. In fact, that same afternoon, De Vries was spotted meeting with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff at a café in Monaco. Toto Wolff and Nyck de Vries were seen at a café in Monaco today.
The decision by F1 race team, AlphaTauri, to fire Nyck de Vries has been met with mixed reactions, over the past week. The 28-year-old Dutch driver has been replaced by Daniel Ricciardo with immediate effect, the team announced on Tuesday. Ricciardo was the reserve driver this season for Red Bull, who are the owners of AlphaTauri.
De Vries had not picked up a point yet this season as he struggled to keep up with teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko warned De Vries a few weeks ago that results would have to improve. “We expected him to be at least equal to his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, this year, but that wasn't the case," Marko said. "Actually, he was always three-tenths of a second slower. We didn’t see any improvement."
After de Vries again did not win a point in the British Grand Prix on Sunday, a race which fellow Dutch driver Max Verstappen won, the decision was made to bring in Ricciardo after he had an impressive showing in Verstappen's RB19 car during testing at Silverstone. The Italian-Australian has plenty of experience in F1, winning eight races and getting to the podium on 32 occasions. The driver will join AlphaTauri on loan from Red Bull and will have his first race for the team on the 23rd of July in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The decision to cut De Vries off so fast was the wrong move, said Dutch race car driver and F1 analyst Tom Coronel. "In my opinion, it’s way too early to make a decision about a driver when you’re not even halfway the season. He had a good race in Silverstone and made progress throughout the season, even with the slowest car on track. He’s not far behind from a teammate who’s having his 3rd year with the team," he wrote on Twitter. "Nyck has won every single race class he participated in: from karting, Formula 2, Formula E, superb performance in several endurance race cars and so on."
"Like many sports, F1 is a 'what have you done for me lately' exercise. With just 20 seats to work with, patience is at a premium. Even for a driver of De Vries’ pedigree," wrote columnist Mark Schofield for SB Nation. He said the sudden firing was a "bitter truth about life in F1. It can be pretty cruel."
"I do not really think that Nyck was given a fair chance to show his worth," said former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde in an interview with radio station 538. He noted that De Vries was "not spectacular," but said there were several signs of improvement for the rookie driver. "If you look back at it, the amount of time he was given to get used to the car and the progress he made (slowly but surely) it’s - in my opinion - been too soon," he also wrote on Twitter. A comeback is "super difficult," and the decision could be the end of De Vries's young F1 career, Van der Garde told 538.
Another pundit disagreed. "He could go back to his old role, as a reserve driver for Mercedes subsidiary team Williams," said JFK magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeroen Jansen. He speculated that the door might remain open for him at Williams in a conversation with Hart van Nederland on Wednesday.
In fact, that same afternoon, De Vries was spotted meeting with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff at a café in Monaco.
Toto Wolff and Nyck de Vries were seen at a café in Monaco today.
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