11 July 2023 , 15:20
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Nyck de Vries waited for longer than most Formula 2 champions to make his debut in the top single-seater category.
And the Dutchman impressed enough in that surprise appearance for Williams last year to finally bag himself a Formula 1 race seat. However, after just 10 races with AlphaTauri, he is back out in the cold.
Another uninspiring display at the British Grand Prix was the final straw for ruthless Red Bull. Having failed to score a single point for their sister team, Helmut Marko has pulled the trigger.
The 28-year-old will be replaced for the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix by Daniel Ricciardo, who has waited for his own chance to get back onto the grid. The Aussie will fill that seat until the end of this season in a loan-style arrangement between the teams.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with De Vries for a one-on-one chat on the eve of this season. Naturally, he was excited to have finally achieved his boyhood dream and felt confident about the future.
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That said, he came across as a reserved character, thoughtful and very obviously intelligent. He knew exactly what risk he was taking when he joined the Red Bull family.
After all, they have never been afraid to make big changes if they feel it is necessary. Daniil Kvyat learned that when he was demoted from Red Bull to Toro Rosso in favour of a young man named Max Verstappen – you may have heard of him.
Daniel Ricciardo is back on the F1 grid as De Vries' replacement (PA)Pierre Gasly was given just half-a-season with the top team before he too was relegated again after struggling to cope with the pressure. Alex Albon lasted longer, but was also eventually cast out and is only now back on track with Williams.
De Vries didn't have to choose this path. As he told me in that interview, he also held conversations with Williams to potentially become Albon's team-mate, and was also sounded out by Alpine after they lost Oscar Piastri to their McLaren rivals.
"But AlphaTauri just worked out best," he told me after listing those potential other options. It was another thing that the Dutchman said in that interview, though, which in hindsight serves as a warning to himself that the situation he now finds himself in was always a possibility.
"The Formula 1 paddock is very dynamic and things change quickly," he mused. And he was not wrong – a few months ago, Nyck de Vries was the talk of the town and now his name is another on the list of drivers who have been chewed up and spat out by this ruthless sport.
Whether or not he gets another chance remains to be seen. De Vries is a very pleasant man who handled all the intense speculation over his future in recent weeks with impressive dignity – even when Marko was publicly sharpening the axe.
But that will never be enough in F1 if you don't get the results required. De Vries has now experienced that first-hand, but he knew about it already.